Thank Yous for All Your Faces (& LOML)

So so many. With the release of All Your Faces & re-release for Land of My Love & the release event coming up this Saturday, Oct. 18th, I wanted to get ahead of things and say so many thank yous! To start with, there are Erin Lynn Marsh (of Bemidji, MN) & Kellie Schneider (of Michigan) who have been dear and constant friends as well as my partners in so many projects – Erin editing and/or being a soundboard and Kellie helping with the final parts of production, designing spines, fine-tuning ideas, sometimes suggesting fonts etc. Together we push the books over the finish line. I talk with Erin most days and Kellie & I, when able, Facetime weekly for breathing practice together so we are pretty close altho’ obviously distant geographically.

Then there are all the people who allowed me to put their photos or art in the books, or photos OF them! This includes:

• Lena Giron (Austin, TX), a friend from my L.A. days – who features in one of the collage photos on the front of AYF. I’ve shared the stage with her back when we were both doing music and I was in Old Souls and she was part of the Israel trip I raised money to go on with LOML! She is also someone who still has LOML on her bedside table 18 years after receiving it and still goes to it for inspiration, and that alone is such a huge encouragement to me.

• David Clobes (Mankato, MN), a friend made a couple years back, wonderful professional photographer – who has 2 photos in AYF and will be coming out to support the book release and will have work for sale and also in the raffle!

• Laurie Sansom (Twin Cities), mom of a friend of ours – who contributed a photo for AYF when I did a callout for images. So kind – and talented!

• Ben Thompson & Shalom Sanchez, friends from L.A. days (both in CO these days) – who let me use a VERY muddy Dead Sea pic of the two of them in AYF (from the Israel trip also)

• Penelope Rose N. whose family allowed her li’l baby pic to be included in AYF semi-anonymously, and Tommy Rehbein (my love) who took the pic – and has put up with me obsessively focusing on my book projects and supported me in so many ways!

• Doug Johannsen (Twin Cities), a former pastor of ours, who let me use a photo of him in AYF, to illustrate a poem I wrote inspired by him.

• Laura Hansen (Little Falls, MN), a poet-friend – who let me use one of her poem-collages in AYF – crazy story that started with a dream, I’ll tell it at the release!

• Elissa Picconatto (Germany), a close high school friend – who responded to my photo call and has two lovely photos in AYF (one of them twice!)

• Rachel Kurtz (Twin Cities) – former roomie who took the cover photo for LOML. She’s like, a Lutheran rockstar and also a massage therapist nowadays. Amazing voice. I played one of her cds so much I broke it.

• William Darhy (current location unknown) – who has 1 photo in LOML. We met in NYC via craigslist and did TFP – trade for pics – shoot. You’ve seen a pic of his in Don’t Kiss the Messenger also. He was French and building his portfolio so it felt kinda fancy to work with him.

Finally, there are the folks helping me in getting this out into the world whether by blurbs or supporting me otherwise!

• Mike Bonikowsky (Canada) – new friend from last year’s AudioFeed, who wrote me a blurb for AYF. Amazing poet & writer.

• Wendy Brown Baez (Twin Cities) – local poet friend, who wrote me a blurb for AYF (and so fast! I think she must have read it in a day!) AND agreed to read some poetry at the beginning of the release this Saturday. Her book Threading the Gold is lovely, and a reading she organized this past month with Native writers was so fantastic. Truly a bringer-together of community.

• Charmaine Pappas Donovan (Brainerd) – FB friend for many years and closer these last 2 since we hung out in person, also wrote me a blurb for AYF (and last year for Don’t Kiss the Messenger!) Really encourages and supports me and inspires me in how committed she is to her writing.

• Jay Marsh (Pennysylvania) – after having used his blurb anonymously to promote LOML for years, I got back in touch with him (after oh, 15+ years of not being in touch) and he kindly gave me permission to use it ‘for real’ with attribution when I re-printed. So grateful.

• Marcy Andersen (Twin Cities) – reading at the release on Saturday, both poems freshly written for the event! She is pretty prolific…I remember when we met, we were in a group where there would be a word-prompt and she would frequently write 10 poems from different angles!

• Jenni Ibanez (Twin Cities) – world’s best merch girl (we do Toilet Rats merch together now and then as her husband Esteban is also a Rat) coming back this year to help me handle merch at the release! You may remember her from last year.

• Dusty Wahl (NE Mpls) – best little neighborhood café owner (& sole employee) ever, opening up award-winning Cosmic Coffee yet again for one of my release events! And has been selling my merch over the years, a great support to artists!

• Scott VanKoughnett (Twin Cities) – favourite indie bookstore owner, with whom I puzzle once a month at the Eat My Words bookstore puzzle nights, who has been selling my books and music since forever it seems now, also very supportive of writers & artists!

One more friend to add (this was just figured out after the post was prepped so I'll give a link instead) - the youth pastor at my church (also known as F'Rael as a hip hop/rap artist) who I work with - Darelle Williams, said he'd handle handing out the raffle prizes, so you may get to meet him also if you come! Here's a link to one of his videos: Christian Rap | F'rael - R.I.P. To Me ft. Kalin Jones & Known MPLS (Official Music Video). He's good people, too!

So all this said, if or when you come to my book release this coming Saturday, you’re not just supporting one lone poet, you are supporting a project that has included a great many people both above-named and others who’ve been present in the beautiful day-to-day, encouraging me, or praying with or for me. Even tho' this is a faith-centered project for me (these 2 books), not all people who have helped build these books or this event would personally consider themselves persons of faith, but these are all people who I see a reflection of God in - that is to say, I see God in All Your Faces. And that is meaningful to me. I’m sure there are lots more names I should be talking up because so many do things behind the scenes that make all of this possible, both for me and all of those named above! Thank YOU, if you've read all the way to the end of this, you're part of this now, and heck, we're glad to have ya.