Contributors

I’m a native Californian who grew up mostly in Ventura County. They were still filming Rawhide episodes there when my family moved to Thousand Oaks. I spent over 30 years teaching California literature at Santa Clara University, recently retiring as professor emeritus of English. I was general editor of the California Legacy Series of books, co-published by Santa Clara University and Heyday Books. I am also the author or editor of six books on California literature, most recently The End of Eden: Agrarian Spaces and the Rise of the California Social Novel (Reno, University of Nevada Press, 2018). I also have a now mostly retired recreational sled dog team that loved exploring California trails.

A fifth-generation Californian, I grew up spending school years in Hollister and summers at our family ranch in the Sierra Nevadas. Summers at the ranch felt a bit like Little House on the Prairie—we lived in a cabin, cooked on a wood-burning stove, brought in water from a spring, and yes, used an outhouse. After graduating from Santa Clara University, I co-edited, with Terry Beers, Califauna: A Literary Field Guide (Santa Clara University and Heyday Books, 2007), a literary exploration of California’s wildlife. I also contributed as a writer to Santa Clara Magazine, the University’s alumni publication. I'm currently a high school history teacher.