THE CONTRIBUTORS

Dr. Lisa M. Diamond is Associate Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Utah.  Dr. Diamond is an internationally recognized expert on female sexuality and specifically on female sexual fluidity, which describes the phenomenon of women periodically developing attractions and relationships that run counter to their overall sexual orientation.  Dr. Diamond is best known for her unprecedented 15-year longitudinal study of 100 lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, and “unlabeled” women. Her 2008 book, Sexual Fluidity, published by Harvard University Press, describes the changes these women underwent in their sexual identities, attractions, and behaviors, and has been awarded the Independent Publishers Book Award and the Distinguished Book award from the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Study of Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgendered Issues.  Dr. Diamond has received numerous other awards for her work from the American Association of University Women, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and the American Psychological Association.

 

Jennifer Baumgardner is the co-author (with Amy Richards) of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000) and Grassroots: A Field Guide to Feminist Activism (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004). She is the author of Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) and Abortion & Life (Akashic Books, 2008) and the producer of the 2005 film I Had an Abortion. A co-owner of the feminist speakers' bureau Soapbox, Inc., Jennifer also teaches writing at the New School and writes for magazines such as Glamour, The Advocate, and Bitch. She is currently working on a film and advocacy project about rape and a book of essays about feminism. Originally from Fargo, North Dakota, Jennifer now lives in New York City with her two sons, Skuli and Magnus, and her boyfriend, BD.

 

Trish Bendix lives in Chicago where she is the blog editor of MTV & Logo's AfterEllen.com, a site about lesbian and bisexual women in media and entertainment. She has also written for Bitch, Time Out Chicago, OUT, Gay.com and The Village Voice. Find out more about her at www.trishbendix.com.

Meredith Maran (shown here on the right) is an award-winning journalist and the author of several bestselling nonfiction books, including Dirty (HarperOne, 2004), Class Dismissed (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2001), Notes From An Incomplete Revolution (Bantam, 1998), and What It’s Like to Live Now (Bantam, 1996). Her work appears regularly in anthologies, newspapers, and magazines. The mother of two grown sons, she lives with her wife in Oakland, California. Her most recent book, My Lie: A True Story of False Memory, was published by Jossey Bass/Wiley in September 2010. Learn more at www.meredithmaran.com.

Sara C. Rauch was planted in California, but cultivated and harvested in scenic western Massachusetts. When she is not plucking away at the vintage typewriter given to her by her beloved, she can be found devouring paperbacks, whipping up small miracles from the pantry, removing cat fur from the couches, reusing her teabags, ringing her bicycle bell and trying to find the perfect balance between minimalism and an obsessive desire for more shoes. She blogs at Life More Lived (www.lifemorelived.com).

Micki Grimland, LCSW-ACP is deliciously and delightfully married to Sharon DePierri and has three cherished daughters and one precious son-in-law, Taylor and Willie Shaw, Haley Grimland and Cami Grimland. They live in the suburbs of Houston, expanding consciousness of the suburban white picket fence society (Smile!). Micki loves rock climbing, nature, the arts, having conversations, and enjoys exploring the intersection of spirituality and psychology. She is a therapist in private practice for 30 years and helps people along the path of full personal actualization. Her family appeared on Oprah on a show about coming out in mid-life and she is frequently on the Great Day Houston show and is a mental health consultant with Channel 11 and 13 in Houston, Texas. Her life will be summed on her epitaph by this quote: "She sucked the marrow out of life!"

Vanessa Shanti Fernando is a queer Sri Lankan/Quebecois writer currently completing a degree in History and Gender Studies at McGill University in Montreal. She spends her time thinking about race, rootedness, ancestry, and belonging as well as watching embarrassing reality television shows. Read more of her work and say hello at www.writingforstrangers.com.

Jeanette LeBlanc is a photographer, writer, poet and dreamer.  She regularly consumes ridiculous amounts of dark chocolate, craves the sound of crashing waves and wishes people would stop putting mushrooms on pizza.  She has a love affair with words (all of them, especially the bad ones) and is inspired by the intersection of shadows and light.  Hopelessly idealistic and impossibly pragmatic, Jeanette fully believes that she will one day earn a very good living with her camera and her writing.  In the event that Plan A doesn’t work out, she is willing to settle for a huge lottery win, or the generosity of a very rich benefactor.  Either way, she has no intention of being a starving artist.  Jeanette lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her girlfriend and three delightfully unruly children.  Jeanette writes about life at http://peacelovefree.com and chronicles her coming out journey at http://awakeningsblog.com.

Michelle Renae is a writer and Spoken Word Artist who makes her home in Chicago. Her work focuses primarily on feminist issues and spirituality as explored through her own life and sexuality. Michelle is also the co-founder and president of Organa Wellness Inc., a Chicago-based organization that helps women harmonize body, mind, and soul through a range of holistic services. She lives with her husband and their energetic three year old son. To contact Michelle and learn more about her work please visit www.michellespoken.com or email her at michellespoken@gmail.com.

Amanda V. Mead is a writer and teacher in Washington State, where she lives with her partner and their dog and cat. She is currently working towards her MFA in poetry at the Inland Northwest Center for Writers of Eastern Washington University. Amanda is an assistant poetry editor for Willow Springs Literary Arts Journal. Her poetry has been published in Opsis Literary Journal and Read This! Literary and Arts Magazine. She is also a political activist for LGBT causes, and works with LGBT youth in the Spokane area.

Amelia Sauter is a writer, cartoonist, martini lounge owner, marketing consultant and musician living with her dynamic partner, their simple-minded dog and their needy old cat near Ithaca, NY. Yes, she really does all those things, and yes, it pretty much makes her crazy. Amelia is a humor columnist, feature writer and food editor for the online publication The Ithaca Post. She maintains a cocktail blog ( www.feliciaspeakeasy.com), an "I swear I'm a writer" blog (www.drinkmywords.com), and a blog about her teardrop trailer adventures with her partner (www.alligatorteardrop.blogspot.com). Amelia is currently penning a humorous memoir, Small Town, Big Cocktails, about leaving a stable social work career to open a wild cocktail lounge, when she didn't even know how the heck to make a gin and tonic.

Audrey Bilger teaches literature, gender studies, and yoga at the Claremont Colleges. She is the author of Laughing Feminism: Subversive Comedy in Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, and Jane Austen (Wayne State University Press, 1998) and editor of Jane Collier’s 1753 Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting for Broadview Literary Texts (2003). A regular contributor to Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, her work has appeared in The Paris Review, The Los Angeles Times, and ROCKRGRL. (Photo on right by Greg Allen)

Libbie Miller’s life was not particularly interesting until she finally came out to her husband of 10 years. It was then she decided she had a story worth sharing. She’s now engaged to be married to her best friend, who not only rivals her Converse collection, but is equally as neurotic (in a cute, When Harry Met Sally kind of way.) When she’s not at her day job churning out corporate copy, she’s concert hopping or wine tasting with her fiancée, learning to play more than two chords on her guitar or hanging out with her four animals in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photos by Jeanette LeBlanc)

Erin Mantz is a communications professional, writer and mom of two adventurous boys, ages 5 and 9. Her published work has appeared in Washington Parent magazine, the New York Post, Bethesda magazine, Patch.com, Tangomag.com, UrbanTurf.com, and Hybrid Mom (www.erinmantz.com). She served as Editor-at-Large for Washington Parent and appeared as a recurring parenting perspective guest on NBC News 4 in Washington, DC. She is currently working on her first novel for middle-schoolers. Erin grew up in Chicago and attended Ithaca College's Roy H. Park School of Communications in Ithaca, New York. Erin lives in Potomac, Md., with her two sons, partner, partner’s two sons and their two dogs.

Crystal Hooper, a Pennsylvania native, is a proud member of a loving family that calls Nashville, Tennessee home. Built on love and respect, her family extends to include her ex-husband and his parents. They enjoy sharing life together, and illustrate to her 7-year-old daughter that non-traditional families can thrive. Crystal lives with her wife, KJ, their daughter, two cats and hermit crabs. Their daughter shares half her time with the best Daddy in the world. Crystal holds a degree in Music Business from Belmont University, and has a passion for songwriting. Her contribution to Dear John, I Love Jane is her first credit as a published writer.

Sheila Smith was born into the Depression, came of age during the McCarthy era, but became a political radical and a gender queer anyway.  She's lived in the same town, Corvallis, Oregon, for 50 years.  She worked in biology labs, turned dog trainer and lay minister in retirement years.  She writes for much fun and little profit.  Her work has been published in Spirit of Corvallis (Donning Company Publishers, 2008), A Cup of Comfort for Divorced Women (Adams Media, 2008), two animal shelter newsletters, and PETCO’s electronic newsletter.

Susan Grier (shown here on the right) has had her work appear in Maryland Magazine, the Charlotte Observer, and the 2006, 2008, and 2009 editions of Women Writers Read, a publication of St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Her essays have also been published in several anthologies, including Trans Forming Families: Real Stories About Transgendered Loved Ones (Oak Knoll Press, 2003) and Thanksgiving to Christmas: A Patchwork of Stories (AWOC.COM, 2009). She earned an MFA from The University of Southern Maine/Stonecoast and is writing a memoir about growing up southern, raising a transgender child, and discovering her inner lesbian at age fifty-one. She lives in St. Mary’s City, Maryland and works as an editor.

Susan White, originally from eastern Tennessee, received her Master’s degree from the Bread Loaf School of English and her MFA from Stonecoast.  She has published short fiction in River Walk Journal, The Pisgah Review, Front Range Review, and Fresh Boiled Peanuts.  Her nonfiction essay "Night Run" will appear in A Daughter's Story anthology.  She teaches high school English in Asheville, North Carolina.  When she’s not grading or writing, Susan enjoys running on the mountain trails with her dogs, Zora, Callie, and Hooper.

Dr. Kami Day is retired college composition professor, partner, mother, grandmother, and queer activist. After her 23-year traditional marriage ended, she entered graduate school, where she met her partner, Michele. They have shared their lives for 16 years and together have written and published an academic book and several articles and book chapters.  They now live in Norman, Oklahoma, where Michele is on the OU faculty and Kami fills her days with writing, reading, cooking, volunteering with a veteran's organization, and finding ways to raise awareness about LGBTQ lives and issues.

New York native Veronica Masen is a self-employed costume designer, mother of two, dog lover, and avid gardener. She is a voracious reader, devouring everything from chick-lit to the classics, who in her spare time writes fiction, poetry, and screenplays. This is her first published piece.

Lori Horvitz’s short stories, poetry, and personal essays have appeared in a variety of literary journals and anthologies, including The Southeast Review, Hotel Amerika, Thirteenth Moon, Dos Passos Review, Quarter After Eight and P.S.: What I Didn't Say: Unsent Letters to Our Female Friends (Seal Press, 2009). She has been awarded writing fellowships from The Ragdale Foundation, Yaddo, Cottages at Hedgebrook, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Blue Mountain Center. A native New Yorker, Lori now makes her home in North Carolina, where she is an Associate Professor of Literature and Language at UNC-Asheville.

Holly Edwards has previously written for The Skinny, a Scottish lifestyle magazine, and The Sofia Echo, the English language newspaper in Bulgaria. She lives in Westcliff-On-Sea, Great Britain, with her wonderful girlfriend, where she enjoys baking and eating baked goods.

Aprille Cochrane currently resides on the West Coast. She has a successful career in education. Her critically reviewed work has been published on multiple websites. She has published an extraordinary collection of poetry, Poems From The Girl Next Door: Imaginations, Illusions, and Images (BookSurge Publishing, 2007), and is working on her second book of erotica.

Katherine Briccetti’s first book, Blood Strangers: A Memoir, from which "Wedding Gown Closet" was excerpted, is available from Heyday Books. Her work has appeared in literary journals, magazines, and in several anthologies, aired on public radio, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She was awarded a residency at the Vermont Studio Center and is at work on a second memoir, A Buswoman’s Holiday, about working with children on the autism spectrum while raising a son with Asperger’s Syndrome. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and can be reached through her website: www.kathybriccetti.com.

Rachel Smith was born in Chicago in 1970. She is the mother of two children: a son (11 years old) and a daughter (3 years old). She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and an MBA in Healthcare Management. Currently she’s employed as an Administrative Assistant at a large teaching hospital in Chicago. She got married in 2005 and is currently separated from her husband, although he lives close by in effort to maintain a strong relationship with their children. She is still with her lover, K.

Sabrina Porterfield’s essays have been featured in the anthologies Ask Me About My Divorce (Seal Press, 2009) and Labor Pains and Birth Stories (Catalyst Book Press, 2009).  She loves her Jane so much that she moved eight hours south of the Arctic Circle to be with her (and that’s love, baby).  She spends her time mothering twins, teaching English to Finns, and wearing lots of warm clothing.  When she can grab a quiet moment, she does a little writing on the side.

Ruth Davies lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her partner and cat. Her teenage sons share their time between her house and their father’s, just down the road. In her day job, she works for a research organization, editing reports and trying to convince scientists that they, too, can learn to appreciate the finer points of hyphenation trends. Nighttime finds her dabbling in speculative fiction (both the reading and writing thereof), post-graduate study, and various amateur arts activities. She is hoping to learn how to build phrases like Neil Gaiman, paragraphs like Hilary Mantel, and plots like Sarah Waters.

Leigh Stuart lives in Los Angeles with her two teenage children. In addition to being a devoted mother, she is a partner, daughter, freelance writer, attorney, and former wife. Recognizing her personal truth while simultaneously uncovering her longtime husband’s secret life is the subject of her nearly completed memoir, Revolution.