Jim is a Minnesota native and has enjoyed a lifetime love affair with the National Parks. After a career in state and local government, Jim spent six years working for the National Park Service. Now retired, he spends his time traveling, writing poetry and short fiction, participating in environmental and social activism, slowly remodeling a house, and spending time outdoors. Jim has been published in The Moccasin, the Poetic Sun, Hey, I’m Alive Magazine, The Talking Stick, Avant Appalachia, the New Minowa Players, and the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.

Katrina Rasmussen is an East Dallas artist and a proud Dallas ISD art educator. Her roles as an educator and a working artist are deeply intertwined: the joy of discovery when she collaborates with her students gives her renewed energy in the studio. Rasmussen’s work explores the metaphysical aspects of the western landscapes that she loves. Using Venetian Plaster and oil paint, Rasmussen creates vivid panoramas in which color reflects the intense, other-worldly beauty of the Big Bend region. These contemporary landscapes highlight a desert region abundant with life, and a beauty both fragile and ferocious. Rasmussen’s work is available at Kettle Art Gallery in Dallas, and online at kmrasmussenfineart.com. Bio photo by: Paxton Maroney paxtonmaroney.com