New Clear Vision

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR

Randall Amster, J.D., Ph.D., is Director of the Program on Justice and Peace at Georgetown University. His books include Peace Ecology (Routledge, 2015), Anarchism Today (Praeger, 2012), and Lost in Space: The Criminalization, Globalization, and Urban Ecology of Homelessness (LFB, 2008), as well as the co-edited volume Exploring the Power of Nonviolence: Peace, Politics, and Practice (Syracuse University Press, 2013). He has been a regular contributor to online publications including Common Dreams, Truthout, and the Huffington Post, and is the editor-in-chief of the Contemporary Justice Review. A longtime academic, activist, and advocate, his work continues to focus on the nexus of social and environmental justice. LEARN MORE

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

Missy Beattie is a mother and a peace and justice activist with a Master’s degree in social work. She has written for National Public Radio and Nashville Life Magazine. After the death of her nephew, Marine Lance Cpl. Chase Johnson Comley, in Iraq, she began writing op-ed pieces. Her work has appeared in numerous newspaper print editions, as well as in online venues including Counterpunch, Intrepid Report, War Is a Crime, OpEd News, Truthout, and Common Dreams. Missy was an instructor of memoirs writing at Johns Hopkins Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Baltimore, during which time she wrote a series of essays about widowhood. She can be reached at missybeat(at)gmail(dot)com. LEARN MORE

Jennifer Browdy, an associate professor of comparative literature, gender studies, and media studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from New York University. Through her writing, teaching and workshops, she advocates for social and environmental justice and the necessity for an aligned transformation of our inner and outer landscapes in order to successfully make the journey to personal, political and planetary health. Jennifer’s new environmental memoir, What I Forgot … And Why I Remembered, is accompanied by her writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir: A Writer’s Companion. Jennifer has written for Yes! Magazine, Kosmos Journal, and many academic journals and collections. The founder of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, which cultivates the voices and visions of women through writing workshops and other programming, Jennifer is also the creator and director of The Butterfly Leadership Program, writing-intensive leadership workshops for teen girls. She has edited or co-edited three anthologies: African Women Writing Resistance: Contemporary Voices (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010); Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Caribbean (second edition forthcoming in 2017 from Beacon Press); and Writing Fire: Celebrating the Power of Women’s Words (Green Fire Press, 2015). Her blog, Transition Times, is dedicated to exploring issues of social and environmental justice. LEARN MORE

John Clark, Ph.D., is the Gregory F. Curtin Distinguished Professor in Humane Letters and the Professions, Professor of Philosophy, and a member of the Environmental Studies faculty at Loyola University, New Orleans. His many books include The Anarchist Moment: Reflections on Culture, Nature and Power (Black Rose, 1984); Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology (co-editor) (Prentice Hall, 2004); Anarchy, Geography, Modernity: The Radical Social Thought of Elisée Reclus (PM Press, 2013); and A Voyage to New Orleans (co-editor and co-translator) (Glad Day Books, 2004). He is at work on several new volumes, including a reformulation of the philosophy of social ecology, a collection of essays on philosophical anarchism, and a historico-philosophical reflection on culture and crisis in 19th Century New Orleans. Dr. Clark has long been active in the international green movement for ecology, peace, social justice, and grassroots democracy. LEARN MORE

Windy Cooler is the mother of two sons and a longtime anti-poverty and peace organizer. Her political voice is deeply personal and confessional, intentionally challenging any boundary between what is the work of activists, our emotional lives, and the quality of our relationships, through story. Her perspective is strongly rooted, as a former “teenage mother and welfare queen,” in a passionate, activist motherhood — her activism is in fact informed and inspired by motherhood — that has spanned her adult years. Windy’s recent writings have appeared in CounterPunch, Truthout, and Common Dreams. She and her elder son are currently writing and illustrating a guided journal for young children and concerned adults that is both a tool for peace education, through story and critical reflection, as well as a portfolio that can be used to document the later young adult’s status as a lifelong conscientious objector. She can be reached at WindyCooler(at)gmail(dot)com. LEARN MORE

Luis A. Fernandez, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona University, where he also directs the Master’s Program in Sustainable Communities. He is the author and editor of several books, including Policing Dissent: Social Control and the Anti-Globalization Movement (Rutgers University Press, 2008), Contemporary Anarchist Studies: An Introductory Anthology of Anarchy in the Academy (Routledge, 2009), and Shutting Down the Streets: Political Violence and Social Control in the Global Era (New York University Press, 2011). His research and teaching interests include protest policing, social movements, globalization, and issues in the social control of late modernity, including the ways that the state regulates and pacifies dissent. Dr. Fernandez has done ethnographic work within the anti-corporate globalization movement, and has conducted research for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the Morrison Institute for Public Policy. LEARN MORE

Laura L. Finley, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Barry University in Miami, Florida. She holds a BA in Secondary Education (1994), an MA in Education and Professional Development (1999), and a Ph.D. in Sociology (2002), all from Western Michigan University. She teaches courses on subjects including theories of deviance, critical issues in criminal justice, sociology of violence, elite and organized crime, and perspective consciousness and social justice. She is the author, co-author, or editor of many books and numerous journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Finley is also a syndicated columnist with PeaceVoice. In addition, Dr. Finley is an active member of a number of peace, social justice, and human rights organizations, and serves on several boards of directors, including co-chairing the Board of Directors of the Peace and Justice Studies Association. LEARN MORE

Robert C. Koehler is a nationally syndicated columnist and self-proclaimed peace journalist. He describes his work as “prayers disguised as op-eds.” He has been a Chicago-based reporter, editor and columnist for over 30 years. His work has appeared in dozens of newspapers, large and small, including the Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Houston Chronicle, and Toronto Star; and he is a featured writer on such sites as Huffington Post and Common Dreams. He has received numerous awards for his writing. His recent book, Courage Grows Strong at the Wound, is a collection of essays on grief, single-parenting, and the internal and external quest for peace. Koehler has taught writing and journalism at both the high school and college levels and is a passionate believer that everyone has a powerful writing voice that deserves to be heard. He has been called many things; his favorite: “blatantly relevant.” LEARN MORE.

Pat LaMarche is the Vice President of Community Affairs at Safe Harbour, Inc., Cumberland County’s largest homeless shelter. As a former journalist and award-winning broadcaster, she spent two decades studying and reporting on poverty issues both in the U.S. and abroad. In 2004, LaMarche was the U.S. Vice Presidential nominee for the Green Party. During the campaign, in what was called the “Left Out Tour,” she traveled the nation living in homeless shelters and on the streets; the book she wrote about those experiences is Left Out in America: The State of Homelessness in the United States (Upala Press, 2006). Her strong advocacy for the poor and her consistent outcry against the root causes of poverty has resulted in a regular weekly op-ed column at Maine’s largest daily newspaper, The Bangor Daily News.  LaMarche also contributes regularly to the Huffington Post, and is the host of The Pulse Morning Show that broadcasts from Maine. LEARN MORE

Diane Lefer is an author, playwright, and activist. Her books include The Blessing Next to the Wound, nonfiction co-authored with Colombian exile Hector Aristizabal (Lantern Books, 2010), and works of fiction that often address social issues, including the story collection California Transit (Mary McCarthy Prize, Sarabande Books) and the novel, Confessions of a Carnivore (Fomite Press). She works with torture survivors from around the world as they seek asylum and healing and begin to rebuild their lives in Southern California. Lefer has received literary fellowship awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and C.O.L.A. (City of Los Angeles), as well as five PEN Syndicated Fiction Prizes. She also writes for LA Progressive and Numéro Cinq. LEARN MORE

Matt Meyer is an educator-activist, based in New York City. As a Founding Co-Chair of the Peace & Justice Studies Association, Meyer has long worked to bring together academics and activists for lasting social change. A former public draft registration resister and chair of the War Resisters League, he continues to serve as convener of the War Resisters International Africa Working Group. With Bill Sutherland, Meyer authored Guns and Gandhi in Africa: Pan-African Insights on Nonviolence, Armed Struggle and Liberation (AK Press, 2005), which Archbishop Desmond Tutu said begins “to develop a language which looks at the roots of our humanness.” Meyer is the author of Time is Tight: Transformative Education in Eritrea, South Africa, and the U.S.A.; co-edited of the two-volume collection Seeds of New Hope: African Peace Studies for the 21st Century (Africa World Press, 2008); and is the editor of Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U. S. Political Prisoners (PM Press, 2008). LEARN MORE

Michael N. Nagler, Ph.D., is Professor emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley where he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program. He is the founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, has served as co-Chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and was a member of the Interim Steering Committee of the Nonviolent Peaceforce. Among his many publications in the field of nonviolence are The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World (New World Library), winner of the 2002 American Book Award, and Our Spiritual Crisis: Recovering Human Wisdom in a Time of Violence (Open Court, 2005). Dr. Nagler received the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for “Promoting Gandhian Values Outside India” in 2007. LEARN MORE

Devon G. Peña, Ph.D., is a lifelong activist in the environmental justice and resilient agriculture movements, and is Professor of American Ethnic Studies, Anthropology, and Environmental Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. A pioneering interdisciplinary research scholar and widely-cited author, his influential books include Mexican Americans and the Environment: Tierra y Vida (University of Arizona Press, 2005), Chicano Culture, Ecology, Politics: Subversive Kin (editor, University of Arizona Press, 1998), and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States (senior editor, Oxford University Press, 2005). Dr. Peña is the Founder and President of The Acequia Institute, the nation’s first Latina/o charitable foundation dedicated to supporting research and education for the environmental and food justice movements, which operates a grassroots experiment station, seed bank, and farm school on a historic acequia farm in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. LEARN MORE

James Russell is a freelance editor and writer living in Fort Worth, Texas. Currently he covers Texas politics for QuorumReport.com. He previously was calendar editor and staff writer at the Dallas Voice, where he won two awards for his commentary on the 84th Texas legislative session. He was also an editor and reporter at Truthout.org. His byline has appeared in a variety of outlets, including Fort Worth Weekly, Huffington Post, Houston Chronicle, Texas Jewish Post and elsewhere. A convinced Quaker, he currently serves on the General Committee of the Friends Committee on National Legislation. He also serves on the board of directors of the Dallas Peace and Justice Center. LEARN MORE

Mary Sojourner, M.A., is the author of novels including Sisters of the Dream (Northland Publishing, 1989) and Going Through Ghosts (University of Nevada Press, 2010); the short story collection, Delicate (Nevermore Press, 2001; Scribner, 2004); the essay collection, Bonelight: Ruin and Grace in the New Southwest (University of Nevada Press, 2004); and two memoirs, Solace: Rituals of Loss and Desire (Simon & Schuster/Scribner 2004) and She Bets Her Life (Seal Press, 2009). She has been a National Public Radio commentator, and is the author of numerous essays, columns, and op-eds for High Country News, Writers on the Range, and dozens of other publications including Psychology Today and her personal blog. Sojourner teaches writing in private circles or one-on-one, and at colleges and universities, writing conferences, and book festivals. She believes in both the limitations and possibilities of healing, and that writing is the most powerful tool for doing what is necessary to mend. LEARN MORE

David Swanson holds a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. In April 2012, Swanson began working for Veterans for Peace. He blogs at davidswanson.org and warisacrime.org, works as Campaign Coordinator for the online activist organization rootsaction.org, and hosts Talk Nation Radio. Among his books are Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union (2009), War Is A Lie (2010), When the World Outlawed War (2011), and The Military Industrial Complex at 50 (2012). LEARN MORE

Jay Walljasper is a writer and speaker who explores how new ideas in urban planning, tourism, community development, sustainability, politics, and culture can improve our lives as well as the world. He is an Editor at OntheCommons.org, Senior Fellow at the Project for Public Spaces, and editor-at-large of Ode Magazine, and also writes regularly on sustainable tourism issues for the National Geographic Traveler. Walljasper was the editor of Utne Reader magazine from 1984 to 1995 and 2000 to 2004, and his series for The Nation, “What Works?” examined positive initiatives that made a difference in places around the world. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, and he is the author of the books All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons (The New Press, 2010), The Great Neighborhood Book (Project for Public Spaces, 2007), and Visionaries: People and Ideas to Change Your Life (New Society, 2001). LEARN MORE

GUEST AUTHORS

We have been pleased to feature the work of a number of exceptional and influential guest authors, including: Ahmed Afzaal; Walt Anderson; Angola 3 News; David Bacon; Christine Baniewicz; Frank Bardacke; Peter Barnes; Klee Benally; Hans Bennett; Peter Bergel; Susan Gelber Cannon; Julia Chaitin; Rick Chamberlin; Michelle Chen; Peter G. Cohen; Felice & Jack Cohen-Joppa; Amy Dean; Valerie Elverton Dixon; Robert F. Dodge; Jerry Elmer; Gustavo Esteva; Tina Lynn Evans; Mike Ferner; Jordan Flaherty; Chellis Glendinning; Ellen Greenblum; Randel Hanson; Ian Harris; Jan Hart; Rev. John Helmiere; Tim Hicks; Patrick T. Hiller; Fred Ho; Charles Imboden; Mira Kamdar; William Loren Katz; Kathy Kelly; Sabu Kohso; Sasha Kramer; David Krieger; Victoria Law; Judith Le Blanc; David D. Leeper; Carmen Llanes; Antonio López; Jan Lundberg; Angeles J. Maldonado; Rebecca Martin; Gina Mason; Nancy Mattina; Pancho McFarland; Keith McHenry; Nipun Mehta; Viral Mehta; Sarah (Steve) Mosko; John L. Murphy; Winslow Myers; Erin Niemela; Rob Okun; Joel Olson; Jake Olzen; Debbie Ouellet; Reba Parker; Victor Postnikov; Alon Raab; Robert Reich; Roberto Rodriguez; Mark Rudd; Alyce Santoro; Jen Schradie; Kent Shifferd; David Smith-Ferri; Pancho Ramos Stierle; Priscilla Stuckey; Lia Tarachansky; Harry Targ; Brian Terrell; Brian J. Trautman; Michael True; Evaggelos Vallianatos; Michael Walzer; Will Wilkinson; Jody Williams; Lawrence Wittner; and Martin Zehr. We have published essays and articles by many students, activists, scholars, practitioners, educators, artists, and more.

If you would like to have your work considered for publication on New Clear Vision, please visit our Submissions page for more information.