JANINE MACRIS has spent most of her life writing , weaving narrative and poetry and fiction . Her Socratic nature guides her lifelong love for peoplewatching and eavesdropping ; her Twain-like love of the written word fosters her lifelong knack for speaking in metaphor and resolution . She is a teacher who writes and a student who risks . She has published a couple poems and continues talking through her working memoir , Sinning at my Son ' s Baptism and Other Tales of Guilt . She is excited to be a part of The Quiet Circle ' s inaugural issue .
DEREK OWENS directs the Institute for Writing Studies at St . John ’ s University ( New York ). Information on his art , writing , and teaching can be found at derekowens . net .
EMILY PEIFFER earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from Bowling Green State University , where she was a recipient of the Irina Ratushinskaya Freedom Book Award . She has also received an Academy of American Poets University and College Poetry Prize . She lives in Michigan with her husband and their timetraveling cat .
CHARLES RAMMELKAMP is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore , where he lives , and edits The Potomac , an online literary journal – http :// thepotomacjournal . com . His photographs , poetry and fiction have appeared in many literary journals . His latest book is a collection of poems called Mata Hari : Eye of the Day ( Apprentice House , Loyola University ), and another poetry collection , American Zeitgeist , is forthcoming from Apprentice House in 2017 .
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