Blake More

A 1987 graduate of UCLA and a lifetime member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, Blake More is an artist with many creative voices and expressions, poetry being her first obsession, though her work spans the spectrum: from book, magazine, poetry and playwriting to performance art, dance and yogic trapeze; from teaching poetry, video and drama to theatrical costume design, functional mixed media art/life pieces, assemblage sculpture and wildly painted poetry art cars (including Eartha Karr, a 1978 Mercedes that runs on Bio Diesel (www.snakelyone.com/EARTHA/done.htm).

Blake is the author of three full length books; New Age Anonymous: 12 Steps for the Recovering New Ager, The Photon Energy Diet, and How To Heal Your Headache Naturally) and five books of poetry: Lingua Franca, Late-Eve(all) Woman In Paradise, I Scribble, Therefore I Am, postcards from the sun, and godmeat. Blake's work has also appeared in magazines and journals worldwide , including Utne Reader, Yoga Journal, Alternative Medicine Digest, Japan International Journal, Nippon View, Tokyo Today, and Tokyo Time Out. Similarly, her poetry has been wildly published and anthologized.

Her original solo performance pieces and ensemble plays have appeared on streets and stages in New York, Tokyo, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Los Angeles, Marin, Sonoma, and the Mendocino coast. She has collaborated with a diverse range of creative organizations, including the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Bay Area Video Coalition, Awate Productions, The Marsh Theater, The Arena Theater, Gualala Arts, California Poets In The schools, Laughing Squid, KZYX Radio, KTDE Radio, KPOO Radio, SF Liberation Radio, Point Arena Pirate Radio, and Radio Amsterdam.

She coordinates the monthly poetry series in Point Arena, as well as the Poetry & Jazz event for the Redwood Whale & Jazz festival. As a teacher, Blake works part-time as a poet teacher and Mendocino County Area Coordinator for California Poets in the Schools; in addition, she receives private and public grant funding to guide high school students in the creation and production of original plays, videos, artwork, and poetry anthologies. She also designs costumes for the San Francisco Mime Troupe Youth Theater Project, and is the creative director of The Arena Technology Center, the city of Point Arena's arts and technology center. She has sat on several non-profit arts and education boards, including the CITYARTS Gallery Board (www.cityarts.ws) and California Poets In the Schools Executive Board (www.cpits.org). She is a member of the Oddfellows Fraternal Society.

Currently, Blake lives in the tree, ocean, and character-lined pastures of the not-so lost Mendocino coast. Her newest book godmeat (Beatitude Press, January 2008), is a collection of poetry, prose and color artwork and includes a poem movie compilation DVD. To learn more about godmeat, go to www.godmeat.com. To explore Blake's many other creative endeavors, please go to her website, www.snakelyone.com.

Brandon Cesmat uses music in performances of his writing. He has collaborated with choreographer Terry Sprague and jazz bassist Gunnar Biggs in the performance ensemble Drought Buoy.

Cesmat currently teaches literature & writing at CSU San Marcos. His writing has appeared in Weber: The Contemporary West, ONTHEBUS, California Quarterly, The San Diego Reader and The Other Voices International Project, amongst many publications. His work has also been anthologized in In Our Own Words, Magee Park, California Poets in the Schools and the San Diego Poetry Annual.

His first book Driven into the Shade received a San Diego Book Award. His second poetry book, Light in All Directions, is from Poetic Matrix Press. His short story collection Party Crasher is from Caernarvon Press.

As an advocate for teaching artists, Cesmat has served on panels at many conferences. He is the past president of California Poets in the Schools (CPITS), the largest artist residency program in the United States.

Cesmat harvests brush every March and Santa Ana winds every October at home just above Paradise Creek in Valley Center, California, where he lives with his wife and their three sons.