Global Sustainability

Paige Eagles—a junior at Arizona State University will cover issues of importance regarding Global Sustainability within our environment, population, conflict, poverty, consumption, health, and climate change.

Film & TV...

Julianne White received her Ph.D. in English literature from the University of New Mexico in 2002. She wrote her dissertation on the poetry of the great Irish poet, William Butler Yeats, and her three areas of specialty were Rhetoric-Composition and Victorian and Modern British Literatures. She is now a Writing Programs Instructor at Arizona State University in the English Department, where she teaches composition, business writing, and sophomore level English survey classes. She also teaches part-time for ASU-Polytechnic during the summer, where she enjoys teaching film, literature, grammar, and writing classes at all levels. She teaches at least one class online every semester.
Originally from Houston, Texas, Dr. White taught high school there for 12 years before making the leap to the Ph.D. program in New Mexico. She graduated from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, with a B.A. in English in 1981, and from the University of St. Thomas in Houston with a Master of Education, Secondary English, in 1993. Her family all live in the Houston area, and her parents have retired and now live in a beach house in Galveston, where she makes a pilgrimage every summer. Two weeks of warm Gulf waters, fresh crab, shrimp and Gulf redfish, and the smell of Coppertone are enough to refresh her soul and allow her to return to the desert Southwest, a climate which is more kind to her arthritic joints.
Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1993 at the tender age of 37, she has been forced to make adjustments in her life and acknowledge her physical limitations. Thank goodness, rheumatoid arthritis does not cripple the brain—although her husband would swear that it does effect her memory, which is nearly gone. Luckily, she can still type at the keyboard, operate the TV remote, and turn the pages of a book. That’s all she needs. She and her husband Shawn, a professional chef, live in Coolidge, AZ (which is about 25 miles south of Chandler) with their 7 cats: Bean, Sheba, L’il Sam, Gigi, Maximus, Tink, and Indy.

Health & Wellness

Sue Grace has spent the last 18 years working and advocating for Arizona’s behavioral health system. From 1991 to 1996 she served in the Arizona House of Representatives and served as a State Senator from 1997 to 2000. She focused much of her attention on improving the level of behavioral health care for Arizona’s citizens and spearheaded funding for construction of the new Civil Unit at the Arizona State Hospital, and, in her last year, successfully sponsored funding for Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams across Arizona. Sue served for several years as a board member and President of MIKID (Mentally Ill Kids in Distress) and also was an Ex-Officio Member of the AZ State Hospital Advisory Board.
Sue worked from 2005 to 2007 as Family Involvement Specialist for ValueOptions, where she provided technical support to family mentors, served as primary trainer for Family Essentials Trainings, researched and developed recommendations for family support programs, analyzed demographic trends and developed reports that helped identify service recipient and family member needs in our service system.
Currently, Sue works as the Peer Specialist Training and Evaluation Coordinator for Magellan Health Services, where she partners with community members and providers and other department members to develop peer specialist programs aimed at promoting recovery and resiliency.
Sue earned a BA in Journalism from Marquette University and a Masters in Public Administration from ASU. She has lived in Arizona since 1983, and has been married to Vic for 28 years. She has 2 daughters, Elizabeth and Irene. Sue’s first grandchild, Valencia Grace Bergeron, was born in May.

About Mind & Soul…

Elaine Yoshikawa received her B.A. in Philosophy from University of California, Berkeley and later received an M.A. and Ph.D. from Arizona State University. Her area of specialization is Ethics, specifically Virtue Ethics and moral psychology. While a graduate student she was the Editorial Assistant for the journal Philosophical Studies as well as the Undergraduate Academic Advisor for the Philosophy Department in Tempe. She is currently a Lecturer in Philosophy at ASU’s Polytechnic Campus. She has been teaching philosophy for 12 years and over the past five years has given presentations and talks in the community on various topics such as: Virtue Ethics, Happiness, and Business Ethics. She is presently writing a book entitled: Virtue, Happiness, and Self-Transformation and is developing a new university course on happiness. In addition she has been a computer programmer, a piano performance major at the Eastman School of Music, and a doctoral student in spiritual psychology. She also has a keen interest in Christian Ethics, Buddhist Ethics and Eastern Philosophy.

About Finance & Business

Cindy Wilson has been married to the same man for 35 years and has 4 children and 1 adorable granddaughter. She and her husband John are credentialed licensed ministers with Foursquare Church International and are currently planning a church in the east Mesa area. Cindy is also a certified Pathway to Purpose Life Purpose Coach, Facilitator and Instructor for women, couples and young adults. As a coach she helps her clients determine their individual purpose and personal goals. As a business woman she has owned and operated a number of businesses including Agape Graduations and Alphagraphics Print shop franchises. For the last 6 years Cindy has been a Franchise Consultant with Franchoice where she had the opportunity to profile individuals and guide them in successfully selecting franchise businesses. Cindy’s passion for seeing women realize their God-given design has been the driving force behind her involvement in women’s ministries, tiaraladies.com, and small group development.

About Travel

Marcela Marenco graduated from Arizona State University with a BS in Psychology in 2005. She has traveled extensively, and has lived in South America, Asia, the United States, and Europe. This multi-cultural exposure gives her an understanding of people from different ethnicities and backgrounds. She thrives on assisting others, and working to bring about meaningful and lasting changes. Marcela is married and has three children. She is also fluent in Spanish and English, with intermediate knowledge of Japanese, Dutch, and French.

About Politics & Society

Jocelyn Fong is an Arizona native and recent graduate of Goshen College with a Bachelor’s degree in Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies. While in school, Jocie worked as a student researcher, assisted an international relations course, and studied and volunteered abroad in both Costa Rica and Guatemala. After graduation, she served a 10-month Americorps term as a Public Ally in Phoenix. Placed at Anytown Arizona, a local nonprofit dedicated to prejudice reduction education for youth, Jocie supported the organization in many capacities, including program coordination, web design, curriculum development, proposal writing, and large group facilitation. She plans to pursue a graduate degree in Public Policy and spend her career researching, writing and learning.

About the editor...

Shavawn M. Berry received her Master of Professional Writing (MPW) degree specializing in Creative Nonfiction and Memoir at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1998. She currently teaches writing fulltime at Arizona State University including composition, business writing, and creative writing courses and workshops. She specializes in spiritual and healing writing as well as writing aimed at changing/creating discourse. Ms. Berry’s prose, essays, articles, and poetry have been published in Poet Lore, California Quarterly, Westview - A Journal of Western Oklahoma, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, Concho River Review, North Atlantic Review, Synapse, Blue Mountain Arts/SPS, Living Buddhism, addictionsolutions.com, and buddhajones.com, among others. She is currently working on a spiritual memoir, a collection of poetry, a novel, and a collection of essays.
You can read samples of her work or peruse her blog by visiting her website at http://www.shavawnmberry.com