Sara Glass enjoys working with a variety of media from her home in southern Oregon. Photography, collage and drawing are a few of her favorites in addition to jewelry-making with her own hand-wrought stone beads and carvings. rainbowmoondog@hotmail.com. *Dec. 2011

Diana Woodcock's Swaying on the Elephant's Shoulders won the 2010 Vernice Quebodeaux International Poetry Prize for Women (Little Red Tree Publishing). Her chapbooks are In the Shade of the Sidra Tree, Mandala, and Travels of a Gwai Lo. Currently teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, she previously worked in Tibet, Macau and Thailand. *Jan. 2

Mary Ellen Croteau has been using art to raise hell and hackles since 1989. "Google me," she says. *Jan. 23

Michelle Peñaloza grew up in Nashville, TN. She currently resides in Eugene, OR. Her work has appeared in Mythrium and Kartika Review among others. *Jan. 30

Corina Dross is an artist, editor and educator. Best known for her illustrated deck of playing cards, Portable Fortitude, she lives in west Philly where she works in several collectives. Her first zine, PANIC!, was chosen for Microcosm's Zine Yearbook of 2009. *Feb. 20

Eleanor Rubin's studio is in Newton, MA. Eleanor Rubin: Dreams of Repair, with foreword by Howard Zinn, was published by Charta, 2010. Rubin's prints are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. *Feb. 27

Marlena Buczek Smith www.marlenabuczek.com *Mar. 19

Marjorie Power is a homebody, helpmeet, grandmother, knitter and widely unknown poet in Corvallis, OR. Her most recent collection is Flying On One Wing: Poems For Breast Cancer Survivors And Those Who Love Them. Her hobbies include ballroom dance, hiking and theater. *Mar. 26

Raina Gentry is a full-time artist living in Arizona. She views each canvas as a playground for her psyche; the work evolves intuitively with little structure or expectation about the final outcome. This organic approach taps into and expresses universal themes that many people can identify with. www.rainagentry.com *Apr. 16

Gigi Marks lives in Ithaca, NY with her family. Her work has appeared in Green Mountains Review, Lilith, Northwest Review, Poetry, among others. Most recently, a chapbook of her poems, Shelter, has been published by Autumn House Press. *Apr. 23

Lori Chilefone lives in Eau Claire, WI. As a certified field worker in life, love and renewal, she highly recommends nettle tea, plenty of rest and if possible a headstand now and then. www.coconutandtheduke.com/LoriArt and at www.portalwisconsin.org *May 14

Mary Ann Castle is a social anthropologist with a specialty in public health. For many years, she has worked to advance the health and social equity of disadvantaged and marginalized people in the US, Africa and India. *May 21

Allison Gates is a painter, photographer, activist and web designer with degrees in fine art and forensic psychology. Being both a city dweller and an Adirondacker inspires her to create modern interpretations of natural environments. www.allisongates.com *Jun. 11

Carole Stone, Professor of English, Emerita has published three books of poetry: Lime And Salt, Traveling With The Dead and American Rhapsody. She received fellowships to Hawthornden and Chateau de Lavigny Writers Retreats. *Jul. 16

Cathy Weaver is an artist and a poet and she spends a lot of time outside following stone and earthen sites. Her artwork graces the Luna Calendar most years. She just started "Art Opens Minds" to foster communication and connection through the creative arts. *Jul. 9

Deborah Sorrentino is a writer and ceramic tile artist living in Syracuse, NY. It is her intention to capture the stunning and ordinary moments of life through her poetry and prose. *Aug. 13

Jill Rachel Friedman has been an activist who uses music and art as instruments for social justice. She is a Special Education teacher in Hartford, CT where she can be found singing on picketlines and at rallies and chilling-out at a jazz concert in the park. *Aug. 6

Katrina Vandenberg is the author of two books of poems: Atlas (2004) and The Alphabet Not Unlike The World (June 2012). She teaches creative writing at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. *Sept. 24

Marie Summerwood is an artist of many media. Photography is her newest passion; she also composes women's sacred chants and writes television shows for which she is seeking an agent. She loves living in the green, green lands of the Northeast. *Sept. 17

Veronica Yates is a poet and a short story writer. She also works with others in developing their true stories through the art and emotional landscape of memoir. Her poems have appeared in Rosebud, Writers' Journal, and Lucidity Poetry. She lives in Oregon. www.hummingbirdworks.com *Oct. 8

Yolanda Tooley photographs to assuage her voracious pursuit of truth and knowledge– however fleeting and thorny the quest. Working from her studio overlooking Oneida Lake, she endorses the power and beauty of a feminine aesthetic. Her work is shown nationwide and is published in many arts journals and anthologies. *Oct. 1

Lesia Sochor has flourished for 30 years in Maine as an artist and teacher. A graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, she is a painter of both watercolor and oils. Her current series Threads uses a spool of thread to convey connections both literal and metaphorical to family and the world. *Oct. 22

Toni Truesdale is an artist/teacher/muralist and writer of prose living in Pecos, NM. She is teaching at the Santa Fe Indian School. www.tonitruesdale.com *Oct. 15

Diane Swan lives in Barre, VT with her husband , Fred. Anthony's Diner is a frequent stop on the way to their camp in the Northeast Kingdom. Her work has appeared in The Boston Review, MS., Yankee, American Poetry Review and other journals. She is glad to be back in the Datebook and wishes you all a happy year. *Nov. 5

Sandy Oppenheimer, a self-taught artist, "paints with paper" in an intuitive and playful manner. She takes her inspiration from the great painters of the past, beautiful handmade papers from around the world, and from the fortunate life she lives. fisheroppenheimer.com *Oct. 29

Janann Dawkins' work has appeared in publications such as decomP, Existere, Mezzo Cammin, Phoebe and Two Review among others. Leadfoot Press published her chapbook Micropleasure in 2008. A graduate of Grinnell College with a BA in American Studies and twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, she resides in Ann Arbor, MI. *Dec. 3

Sue Sparks "I've always been attracted to women's issues (I've been one since birth)– especially the dream-time themes." *Nov. 26

Madelyn L. Garner is a retired school administrator in Denver. Her writing has appeared in Water-Stone Review, PMS, Calyx, Dogwood and AJN American Journal of Nursing, among others. She is a past recipient of the Colorado Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities. *Dec. 31

Lori Barck Haynes has been making unique art dolls from natural and found materials for 20 years. Formerly a scientist and environmental attorney, she now immerses herself in her art and her family. She believes dolls are an intuitive connection to one's inner voice. *Dec. 24