About Us - Contributors

MICHAEL PEARSON teaches creative writing and American literature at Old Dominion University.  He has published essays and stories in The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Southern Literary Journal, and Creative Nonfiction, among many others.  He is the author of five nonfiction books –  Imagined Places: Journeys into Literary America ( listed as a notable book by The New York Times Book Review), A Place That’s Known: Essays, John McPhee, Dreaming of Columbus: A Boyhood in the Bronx, and Innocents Abroad Too.   Willie Morris, the former editor of Harper’s said, “Michael Pearson is one of our nation’s finest memoirists.”  Pearson has also written a novel, Shohola Falls, a coming-of-age narrative with a historical twist, an imagining of the hidden life of Mark Twain and the invention of the journal of Thomas Blankenship, the real-life Huck Finn.  His most recent book, Innocents Abroad Too (2008) recounts two journeys around the world by ship on the Semester at Sea Program. www.mppearson.com

LEA ANN DOUGLAS is a playwright, poet, essayist and proud Ghentile. Her plays Alligator Mansion and The Neophyte have been seen in Charlottesville, New York, Los Angeles, and London; her short stories and political essays have appeared in numerous online and print magazines and she has served as speechwriter to many successful (and not-so-successful) politicians. Lea Ann is best known for creating the culture, philosophy and language of the World of the Sidhe and its colorful heroine Sionne Angbarad.  Lea Ann has an MFA in playwriting and a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Virginia and currently teaches English at Old Dominion University and playwriting at the Muse.

LISA HORTH (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Old Dominion University in Norfolk VA. She and her students conduct molecular biological research to better understand the genetic control of particular human diseases and sensory traits in fish. She teaches population genetics and evolution. In addition to teaching and research she has a personal goal of making complicated scientific material comprehensible to the general public.

KATHERINE JACKSON teaches composition and literature classes for Old Dominion University at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center. She has written book reviews and articles for local publications, and in 1999 published Walking Virginia Beach, a guide to local footpaths. Her collection of contemporary novels has rendered her home office impassable.

RON MILLER is recognized internationally as one of the major thinkers and activists in the emerging field of holistic education. He has written or edited eight books and authored numerous articles, chapters and book reviews. He has spoken at conferences in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, England, and Turkey.

JIM NEWSOM is a writer, musician and bank executive who lives in Norfolk, Virginia. Well-known in the Hampton Roads area as leader of the Jim Newsom Quartet, he is also a popular television and radio personality with local PBS affiliate WHRO. A graduate of Suffolk High School and Virginia Tech, he has been active in politics and civic affairs, and has served on the boards of numerous charitable and community organizations.

JACOB WILSON was born in a house off Holly Road in Virginia Beach and attended VB Friends School until he got too old. JMU gave him a degree in return for some money, a few English papers, and a couple trips to Europe. He still lives and works in VB and enjoys riding waves and teaming up with friends to make collaborative art and music. He recently got a new pair of shoes.