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Writer and activist,

Brenda Anfinson is a Minnesota-based writer, educator and speaker on issues in adult basic education. She currently teaches basic literacy and civics classes to adult learners. After completing bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and anthropology at Luther College, she completed a master’s degree in education at the University of St. Thomas. When not teaching, she is busy cycling and enjoying the great outdoors.

Drawing on her experience as the child of Jamaican immigrants, born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Patrice enjoys exploring issues of race, immigration and belonging. Her essays have appeared in a variety of publications, including Sweet: A Literary Confection and the online editions of The New York Times and The Washington Post. Her radio commentaries have appeared on Charlotte, North Carolina’s NPR station WFAE 90.7.

Olivia Gude is a community muralist and an assistant professor in the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Donohue is a middle school English and social studies teacher in Monroe, Washington. He also teaches college courses in English, public speaking and education.

Teacher and freelance contributor

M. Christine Mattise, an elementary school guidance counselor in New Hampshire, has lectured extensively about bullying and violence-prevention character education in the U.S. and abroad.

Lisa Ann Williamson is associate editor at Teaching Tolerance. Before coming to SPLC, she worked as a multimedia journalist. Her jobs at newspapers in Iowa, Michigan and New York included covering crime, education, theater and religion stories. Williamson also taught college courses in journalism, literature and interpersonal communication. She graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with a major in theater and earned her masters at the University of Iowa.

Ashe is the legislative and policy director of the Public Rights/Private Conscience Project at Columbia Law School, a think tank focused on developing legal and policy solutions to tensions that arise when religious liberty guarantees conflict with other fundamental rights to equality and justice under the Constitution. McGovern's writing has been featured in The Nation, NPR, Huffington Post, The Advocate and ThinkProgress, among other sites.