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’s latest book is 501 Minutes to Christ (Hawthorne Books). He lives in Chadron, Nebraska, where he is a school custodian. He says, “It feels good to be back in education.” 

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 began taking photographs at ymca camp in Ohio when he was eleven. He is a staff photographer for the Washington State House of Representatives and lives in Olympia, Washington.

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 about San Francisco movie theaters. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

ANNA KAUFMAN MOON is the author of a self-published book of photographs called Reflections of New York City: 1963–1972. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, the New York Times, and Life. She lives in Cobleskill, New York.

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 lives in Manomet, Massachusetts.

DAWN PAUL is the editor of Corvid Press, and her novel The Country of Loneliness will be published by Marick Press in 2009. 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’s photographs have been published in Focus, Popular Photography, and Photo Life. He manages private vocational colleges for a living and raises llamas at his ranch in Laporte, Colorado.

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