Kim Barke earned a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Albany Medical College. She’s teaching online classes for Fisher College and writing fiction and creative nonfiction, after working as a research scientist and medical writer for 15 years. An essay of hers was published by CommonDreams.org, and a poem appeared in the multimedia exhibit "Women’s Work," at Time and Space Limited. She was recently awarded a John Woods Scholarship for the Prague Summer Program, where she’ll be completing a memoir about her experiences searching for her birth parents, who met in Beirut in the 1960s.

Rob and his wife just moved to Austin where he writes novels and comic book scripts and songs and shorts like these as fast as he can, with brief occasional pauses to seek out more traditional forms of employment.

Bill is the editor of a small daily newspaper in New Hampshire. He studied creative writing at Harvard and is currently at work on a novel. He is married... with children.

Joan Bowman has lived in Short Hills, NJ, 20 miles due west of Manhattan, since 1960 — where she has raised five sons and one daughter, now ages 51 to 34. She graduated from Smith College in 1954 with honors in English. An interior designer for the past 30 years, she has worked with clients in New Jersey, New York City, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Vermont, North Carolina and Florida, and has also written a weekly column on the secrets of successful home design for a local newspaper. She spends every July entertaining family and friends on Martha’s Vineyard, where her essays have appeared in the Vineyard Gazette. In May of 2005, at age 72, she received her MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, and is presently working on a childhood memoir, "The Power of the Place."

Brandon Cole has written, co-written, produced, or directed five feature films, most recently 13 MOONS, co-written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell, that stars Steve Buscemi, David Proval, Peter Dinklage and Jennifer Beals. His other film credits include MAC and ILLUMINATA, co-written and directed by John Turturro; OK GARAGE, which he wrote and directed, which starred Lili Taylor, John Turturro and Will Patton; and SONS, co-written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell. MAC won the Camera D’Or at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. OK GARAGE was awarded best screenplay at the 1998 Avignon, France, Film Festival. The Difficult Ones is his second novel.

C.H. Coleman lives with his ten-year old son in Hanover, NH, and works in Alumni Relations at Dartmouth College. His writing has appeared in "Uno Mas", the "Takoma Voice", the "Washington, DC, City Paper" and the "Mass Ave Review" - all Washington, DC, area publications - and has also appeared online in "Wilmington Blues", "StoryBytes", "Ducts.org" and "Fresh!". Currently, his short story "Hitting the Jersey Wall" appears on "Blue Almonds", another online literary magazine.

In addition to writing essays, Mike Dressel is the author of the play Heretic Love, which made its premiere at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and will receive a production in New York this summer. His essay "My First Casualty" was recently published on the website Mr. Beller's Neighborhood (www.mrbellersneighborhood.com). He contributes freelance music and bar reviews to various publications, in addition to writing songs and performing with his band Barelylegal Tender.

Loriann Fell worked as a journalist and free-lance writer for a decade before earning an M.A. in English - Creative Writing from Rutgers University. Her reviews, articles, and essays have appeared in Nouveau magazine, The New York Times, and Mademoiselle. She teaches in the Writing Arts Department at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ and teaches Memoir and Playwriting in the Rutgers University Continuing Education program.

Peace Corps Volunteer Jennifer H. Fortin grew up in Gaithersburg, Md., then went on to Goucher College where she majored in Art and English. Since graduating, the 24-year-old has served the Peace Corps mission in Bulgaria as a primary education volunteer teacher. She writes extensively and has literary and poetic work printed in a number of publications. Jennifer describes the world around her in tactile terms compelling her readers to feel the what she is feeling, to know the bitter cold that her students are feeling; to know the anguish of a people grieving over their great needs; a people heartened by the work of the Peace Corps.

Doug Garr is a journalist and author of most recently,

"IBM Redux: Lou Gerstner and the Business Turnaround of the Decade," a business narrative of a corporate icon under siege. He was a sky diver for 14 years and a D license holder, signifying expert parachutist. The Pucker Factor is excerpted from his memoir, "Between Heaven and Earth."

Mark Goldblatt is an assistant professor in the School of Liberal Arts at the Fashion Institute of Technology of the State University of New York. He writes regularly for National Review, the American Spectator and the New York Post. His novel, Africa Speaks, a satire of black urban culture, was published in 2002.

Brady Golden holds an MFA from the University of San Francisco. He currently resides in a studio apartment in Oakland, CA, with a TIVO which automatically records nothing but MythBusters and zombie movies. He would like a puppy.

Mindy Greenstein first started writing as a child, but didn't pursue it as a career because she thought, "from this you could make a living?" She became a Clinical Psychologist and Psycho-oncologist instead, but realized through her experiences with her patients how much she wanted to write again. She has previously been published in Ducts.org, (The Clock on the Wall,) and she lives with her husband and two sons in New York City.

Sarah Iverson was born in Brenham, Texas, a town famous for ice cream and miniature horses (www.bluebell.com, www.monasteryminiaturehorses.com). She has worked as a chef, yoga teacher, hedge fund recruiter, sperm lab technician, personal trainer, calculus tutor, and wine importer, and she was a New York City Golden Gloves boxing champion.

Marge Lurie lives and works in lower Manhattan. She does her food shopping at the Chelsea Market. She earned her B.A. in philosophy from Barnard College and her M.F.A. in writing from the New School for Social Research. Her work can also be found online at Pindeldyboz.com; Fictionwarehouse.com, and in Ducts.org.

Benjamin Malcolm focuses mainly on intercultural themes in his writing, and has been at various times a weekly newspaper journalist, Peace Corps volunteer, Thai university professor, semester abroad leader, refugee camp volunteer, "international development associate," and freelance writer. He has lived over six years in Thailand and in four out of the six states in New England. His work has appeared in the Thai national newspaper the Nation; U.S. and Thai-based periodicals including Bates Magazine, Thailand Magazine, Chiang Mai Citylife, Tropical Living, Lifestyle + Travel; and the online publications ThingsAsian.com and PopPolitics.com. He now lives with his wife Supalak in Burlington, Vermont.

Michael's fiction and humor have appeared in REDBOOK, SEVENTEEN, WOMAN, SATIRE, YM, ROSEBUD, NUTHOUSE, SPECIAL REPORT, CRESCENT REVIEW, PORTLAND REVIEW and several other magazines, as well as in the last issue of ENIGMA and this spring's issue of THE ARMCHAIR AESTHETE. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has twice been nominated for the National Magazine Award.

Logan lives in Owensboro, Kentucky and enjoys

Catherine currently lives in New York and will graduate this May from New York University with a BA in English and Art History and a minor in Creative Writing. Upon graduation, she is eager to pursue a career in the editorial side of a good magazine.

Brooklyn born and bred, Helen Rafferty now resides in beautiful Mamaroneck, New York with her husband and three daughters. Her short stories have appeared in journals such as Lynx Eye, Sanskrit and Studio One. Helen’s essays chronicle the heinous crimes of her youth and her subsequent cruel banishment to the suburbs. This ability to see high drama in the most mundane circumstances has led to a reporting job for her local newspaper.

Johanna's fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Nerve Cowboy, Snow Monkey, phirebrush, and Hothouse. She is preparing to get a degree in astrophysics, and likes to watch old films on Friday mornings, at sunrise.

Suzanne Scarfone's poems have most recently appeared in Phoebe: A Journal of Feminist Scholarship, Cider Press Review, Earth's Daughters, and Natural Bridge: A Journal of Contemporary Literature. As editor through InsideOut Literary Arts Project, her publications include Shimmering Stars, volumes 1-3, Welcome to the Poetry Palace, volumes 1-4, and The World through Our Eyes, vol. 4. She has produced two music and poetry compact discs The Poetry Harmonium and Arts at an Exhibition in collaboration with composer Christian Kreipke and poets Carol Carpenter and Anca Vlasopolos. She has recently received two poetry awards from the Wayne County Council for Arts, History, and Humanities; presented Fine Arts symposiums for the Michigan Department of Education and the Schools for the 21st Century; served as poetry judge for various associations, including the VSA arts, an international organization which promotes children with disabilities; developed a painting and music curriculum for emotionally impaired children; and written several children's plays in conjunction with Igor Gorzman of the Detroit Puppet theater and Dr. Terry Blackhawk of InsideOut Literary Arts. Scarfone and poet Anca Vlasopolos have a forthcoming chapbook entitled Double Sight: A Collection of Alternating, Paired Poems.

Len is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared in issues of The New Republic, The Mercury, Perihelion, The Alembic, Perigee, Gangsters In Concrete, and other sundry publications. He attended Bard College in New York before attending Emerson in Boston, where he received a BFA in writing and literature.

Sunsh lives in New York City, but has one foot out the door. She's a freelance writer with a master's degree in journalism and a day job as a patient advocate. She was recently called an "advanced hippie."

Richard grew up on a farm near Marengo, Iowa. He is both an actor and a teacher. After receiving his Ph.D. at Northwestern University, he taught and directed there for three years, and later at Lewis & Clark College where he was chairman of the Department of Theatre. He has been active as a member of Actor's Equity, the Screen Actor's Guild, and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists for over twenty years. He is published in New Author's Journal, Words of Wisdom, Red Wheelbarrow, Phantasmagoria, and Iconoclast. He and his wife, Linda Barry, live in New York City

Helen's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Family Circle, Brooklyn Bridge and Scientific American: Explorations. A proud booster of her adopted hometown (New York), she is a nonfiction contributor to Totally Brooklyn.

Jonathan is best known for his ability to scratch his forehead and squint his eyes simultaneously . He is a writer, editor and some time trumpet player who spends too much time reading long feature stories on the world wide web. He is a co-founder of ducts and founder of the New York based reading series, Trumpet Fiction, held each month at KGB Bar in the east village. He has studied writing with a number of teachers in New York, including Alice Eliot Dark (fiction), the late Fred Hudson (screenwriting) and Alison Estes (children’s fiction) and has held a number of odd jobs, including news reporter, taxi cab driver, projectionist and ducts installer (hmmmm). He currently works as a computer consultant. He has recently taken up improv comedy classes with the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater of NYC as a way to discover finer and more glorious ways of embarrassing himself on a weekly basis.

Philip is a freelance film editor and co-founder of ducts.org. His programs have appeared on PBS, ABC, Cinemax, Lifetime Television, The Learning Channel, and in theaters and film festivals around the world. He lives in New York with his wife Julie.

humor contributor

Dan was a writer for the late, lamented live talk show Sara Schaefer is Obsessed With You (Back Stage "Best Bet" 2005, Emerging Comics of NY Winner, NY Post Hot List, etc). He was also a regular contributor to NYC's late, lamented humor magazine, Jest. He assures you that he had nothing to do with either of those things being late and lamented. His sketches have been performed on the Seattle public radio program, Rewind, and NPR's Morning Edition, and he is currently one of the writers for the Internet comedy series Captains in Space. You can read about his current projects and performances at his online calendar, Whither Laffs. Although unemployed in the traditional sense, Dan has countless temp jobs to his credit, and the bank account to prove it. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and cat, both of whom hate mice.

Sara Schaefer [http://www.saraschaefer.com]

Captains in Space [http://www.captainsinspace.com]

Whither Laffs [http://danmccoy.blogspot.com]

Anne, although a fine treasurer, is much more renowned for her songwriting, which reaches back to capture the classic brilliance of favorite hits by Carole King and Laura Nyro. She blurs the lines between jazz, country, rock and R&B, weaving melody and rhythm together in masterful ways. Her rich alto voice leads listeners from one genre to another as she explores the struggles, loves, fears and joys of everyday heroes. When she’s not writing great music, Anne is busy crunching numbers for ducts! Anne’s new CD "Find Me" is now available and can be found at www.annemironchik.com.

4newsongs@earthlink.net

Cindy is a Brooklyn-based painter and aquaphile. She currently teaches art and art history at the College of New Rochelle, Caldwell College, and Mercer County College. Her current work on paper can be seen at Streits Flat Files in the Lower East Side. Recent exhibitions include Girl Art Now (RI,) Pencil on Glass (CA,) and Connections (NJ.)

Jennifer is a recent graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is an actress and director.

Charles is a New York based freelance writer and teacher. He has published a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction books. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section, Redbook, New York Magazine, Travel & Leisure and many others.

Tim’s fiction has appeared in The Missouri Review, North American Review, Libido, and elsewhere. He's published haiku in Modern Haiku, Time Haiku, and Black Bough. He's an occasional journalist, and a full time teacher, working at both NYU and the New York Writers Workshop.

Ryan Van Winkle
poetry editor

Ryan is 24 years old and lives out of a back pack. He has no permanent residence and is a happy freelance writer. He spends as much time naked as humanly possible.