About This Issue
Guest Editor, Lisa Chason
Lisa Chason is this month's guest editor of the Public
I. Originally from New York City, Lisa returned
last year to the US after living for 17 years in Amsterdam
in the Netherlands as a self-proclaimed cultural exile.
She came to Champaign-Urbana with her husband, Jan
Nederveen Pieterse, now Professor of Sociology at
UIUC and their two young daughters just days after
September 11. She has a history of political activism
going back to when she was a teenager and was very
pleased to discover AWARE, the Anti-War Anti-Racism
Effort, where she's made many like-minded friends
and has been involved in a great range of activities.
An editor by profession, she chose writing as the
theme for this issue. Writing as in AWARE's recent
postcard campaign in which over 500 people wrote to
the Illinois senators not to attack Iraq; as in the
Postcards for Peace art auction which will result
in actual postcard and Christmas card designs; and
in the letters in this issue -- to a father, to a
community back home, to a teacher's head principal
-- that all tell how deeply everyday life is affected
by the politics and culture which surround us.
Guest Poet, Matthew Murrey
As many readers may know, the Public i often
publishes poems from the website of Newspoetry.
This month, however, we asked local poet Matt Murrey
to share some of his work, a request to which he kindly
agreed. Here's a brief biography of Matt, in his own
words:
"I'm a Floridian by birth and
a Peacenik by choice. I've worked a number of jobs
in my life, but lately am a school librarian. I've
been writing poetry for over fifteen years, and try
to write poetry that does interesting things with
English, but can be understood by most people. I write
about a lot of different things usually something
that stirs me emotionally in some way. I've published
quite a bit of my poems and even got an NEA fellowship
several years ago thanks Uncle Sam! I've been
living in Urbana for ten years now and my partner
and I have two neat kids. I know poetry won't save
the world, but I think it's a good thing in its own
right."
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