About the Contributors

Sadaf Jaffer is a student at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University where she is 
majoring in Regional Studies of the Islamic world. She started writing poetry and prose five years ago and 
has been published in Georgetown's literary magazine, The Anthem. "Although we all know the limitations 
of words, there is something so beautiful about them. I love the lack of exact meaning, that gap between 
signifier and signified that gives the reader an opportunity to partake in a poem's meaning."

Heidi Skattebo is a wife and a mother to four children. "I live in a small midwestern town with a 
population of 1,000 and a nice quiet place to be reflective. I wrote this poem immediately when I woke up
one morning feeling so blessed. It came to me that in order to feel this blessed all the time, I had to remain 
'blessable' and open my heart to God's blessings. I continue to find the blessing in everything even when life
seems unbearable. There is always a silver lining. You just have to look for it constantly."

Alan Thibeault lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts and earns his living as a librarian. "I write poetry 
for myself; it's a very personal way to record impression and experience. If these memoranda and notes to 
myself make sense to others, that's a wonderful thing."

P.J. Capelotti, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology and American Studies at Penn State University
Abington College. He  is author or editor of more than a dozen non-fiction histories, including Sea Drift: 
Rafting Adventures in the Wake of Kon-Tiki (2001) and By Airship to the North Pole: An Archaeology 
of Human Exploration (1999). He developed his love for archaeology and exploration as a boy following 
the adventures of Thor Heyerdahl, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and the Apollo astronauts, and is now trying to 
connect his empiricism with his spirituality by finishing a collection of poems exploring the archaeology of the
Cistercian ruins located on an island in the fjord near Oslo, Norway. It was his first view of these ruins in the 
summer of 2004 that inspired his poem for Subjective Substance. In addition to his poetry, he has completed 
the first volume of a fiction trilogy called Nautilus, based on an archaeological analysis of how the character 
of Captain Nemo might have conceived his role in human evolution. It continues his explorations of the 
evolutionary and spiritual connections between the oceans of Earth and space. 
For more:  http://www.personal.psu.edu/pjc12/

Brenton Miers started writing poetry many years ago after having a dream, an experience, beyong all 
compare. "I for one moment felt more love than one could imagine, and yes a feeling of child like joy and awe."
This moment was so beautiful, magical and very spiritual, a moment I wanted to hold for ever, a moment I
still cherish, a moment where I became one with god and all that is.  I have now an understanding and for 
the first time in my life see the beauty in all things. I was touched, and I am thankful. There is a [G]od and there 
is more in life than life itself, and there is an answer."