EDWARD ABBEY was an American author and essayist known for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public-land policies. Born in Pennsylvania, he made the American West his home from the time he was seventeen. He wrote more than twenty books of fiction and nonfiction before he died in 1989.

ALEXIS ADAMS lives with her husband and children on a small farm in Red Lodge, Montana, where they keep chickens, ducks, geese, and bees. Her writing has appeared in Natural Home and Yoga Journal, and on Slowfood.com, website of the international movement to defend agricultural and culinary biodiversity.

POE BALLANTINE lives in Chadron, Nebraska, and his latest book is 501 Minutes to Christ (Hawthorne Books). He wishes to tell Ismael Avila, his teacher and friend who died in March, “Vaya con Dios, mi amigo. Soon we will be together again for a cold Indio and a game of Scrabble.”

MARAYA CORNELL recently hiked the John Muir Trail, which is 211 miles long and runs from Yosemite National Park to Mount Whitney in California. She lives in Los Angeles.

LAURA DIDYK’s work has appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Fence, and New Orleans Review. She lives in Hudson, New York, and writes and edits for the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts.

RYAN FOX photographs weddings using top-of-the-line equipment, but is most proud of the pictures he takes with a plastic camera he bought for twenty-three dollars. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

DUNCAN GREEN first discovered his love of photography at YMCA camp when he was eleven. He lives in Olympia, Washington, and is staff photographer for the Washington State House of Representatives.

ROBERT E. HANNAN is a photographer who lives in Concord, Massachusetts.

JEFFREY HERSCH is a photographer who has unloaded cod from fishing boats and mucked out horse stalls. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

R.A. McBRIDE is working on a book of photographs and essays about San Francisco movie theaters. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

ANNA KAUFMAN MOON’s photographs have been published in Newsweek, Life, and the New York Times. She lives in Cobleskill, New York, where she grows peas, lettuce, and chives.

GARY OLIVEIRA is a photographer who lives in Seattle, Washington, and teaches art at Green River Community College. His work has appeared in Culturefront and Public Culture.

GERALD PARKER is a photographer who lives in Manomet, Massachusetts. In the 1970s he extensively documented the dilapidated postindustrial state of his hometown of Brockton, Massachusetts, which was once home to a thriving shoe industry.

DAWN PAUL’s stories and essays have appeared in 14 Hills, Talking River, and the Redwood Coast Review. Her new novel is Still River (Corvid Press). She lives in Beverly, Massachusetts.

JOHN PURUGGANAN is serving a life sentence in a California prison. He is the author of the play Let’s Keep Dancing, which won the first annual Arts in Correction Playwriting Contest in 1992, sponsored by UCLA’S extension program. He is currently seeking a production company for his screenplays Blood Parable and Hush. Correspondence can be sent to: John Purugganan E-71364, CSC-LAC/A2-108, P.O. Box 4430, Lancaster, CA 93539.

SY SAFRANSKY is editor and publisher of The Sun.

GRETCHEN SEIFERT-GRAM is a photographer who lives in Merrionette Park, Illinois.

TUCKER SHARON is a self-taught photographer who lives in Richmond, California.

EVA SILVERMAN lives in Oakland, California. She works for the nonprofit Workplace Fairness and credits her passion for workers’ rights to her punk-rock roots and her grandma Gladys, who worked in New York City sweatshops as a girl.

MARGOT SINGER gave up a career in management consulting to become a writer and a mom. Her work has appeared in Shenandoah and the North American Review, and she recently received a 2006 NEA fellowship for prose. She lives in Granville, Ohio.

KAREN STEIN is a photographer, writer, singer, meditation teacher, and mother of two wonderful young men. She lives in Pomfret Center, Connecticut.

COLE THOMPSON manages private vocational colleges and lives on a small ranch in Laporte, Colorado. His work has been published in Popular Photography, Photographer’s Forum, and B&W.

RICHARD WHITTAKER is a photographer who lives in Berkeley, California. He publishes an art magazine called works + conversations.