I’m a peer support specialist, longtime community worker, activist/advocate, and collagist. I’m from California but now live near Detroit with my husband, composer Ralph Johnson, and our cat, Walt. 

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My MFA in creative writing is from the University of Iowa and I have an MS in Counseling from California State University, East Bay. I’ve worked in community mental health and other service organizations as a crisis counselor, resource advocate, and support group founder/facilitator for people with mental illness. I served as a board member and publicity coordinator for a homeless shelter and also as the vice-president for a public access TV station. I've worked on the editorial staff of several literary magazines and currently serve december magazine.

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My chapbook, "Welcoming in the Starry Night of the Lightning Bees," features in New Poets, Short Books, ed. Marvin Bell. My work aired on NPR on the Iowa Radio Project and has been honored with several Pushcart nominations.

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“Hagiography,” frames David Evan Thomas’ oratorio, The First Apostle. “What I Would Have Taught a Daughter,” features in Fight Like a Girl and my story, “Bracelet,” were produced by PencilPoint TheatreWorks. I've performed in Outrage: The Art of Protest Spoken Word, and HERsay in Ypsilanti, MI.

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My poetry, hybrids, fiction and nonfiction appear in MAYDAY, DIAGRAM, Salamander, Puerto del Sol, RHINO, Interim, JuxtaProse, Posit, Gargoyle, Sentence, 2 Bridges Review, Water~Stone Review, decomP magazinE, flashquake, Quarter After Eight, Portland Review, december magazine and Berkeley Poetry Review among others.