David Dalessandro: I grew up in Rochester and moved to New York in 1973 to attend the New York Studio School of Drawing Painting & Sculpture. There I studied under many second generation Abstract Expressionists. Shortly after, I went on to get an MFA from Queens College where the direction was very closely related to the Studio school’s. The common approach being the importance of drawing from observation. My drawings are done from my imagination, rather than from observation. They’re done out of an understanding of how I think forms and space should be represented on a flat surface. The subject of jazz is inspired by the musicians Miles Davis, and Dexter Gordon among others, and by my visits to the Village Vanguard in New York.
Cover Drawing: Jazz Composition #5 by David Dalessandro.
Pencil & white correction fluid on watercolor paper, 9" X 12", 11/12/2000
Website: www.geocities.com/ddaless879

Steven Hoadley is a twice-divorced, self-described malcontent living in San Ramon, Ca. A writer of short fiction and poetry, he is hard at work avoiding finishing his novel, The Life and Daily Death of Sam Mackie. He's been published in various literary magazines and can be found most recently in Left Curve Magazine. He can be reached at stevenjhoadley@yahoo.com.

Peter Klein has most recently published poems in The Cortland Review, The Lightning Bell Poetry Journal, and The Paumanok Review. He lives with his wife in Nashville, Tennessee where he works for a market research company.

Radames Ortiz is the author of a chapbook of poems, Between Angels & Monsters. Founding editor of Coyote Magazine: Bringing Literature and Art Across Borders and former editor of the Bayou Review, the literary journal for the University of Houston Downtown. His work has appeared in numerous publications including, Exquisite Corpse, Pacific Review, Gulf Coast, The Amherst Review, and The Rockhurst Review. Winner of the 2000 Fabian Worsham award for Poetry and fellowships from the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets at Bucknell University and Voices Writing Workshop at the University of San Francisco. He is also a recipient of a 2002 Individual Artist Grant from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County. He currently resides in Houston, TX where he is Marketing Associate for Arte Publico Press.

Khadijah Queen, a mother, student, and military veteran, has work appearing or forthcoming in Eye Dialect, The Pedestal Magazine, three candles, Pierian Springs, Niedergnasse, and Poet's Canvas.