Family Stories from the Attic: Bringing letters and archives alive through creative nonfiction, flash narratives, and poetry

Lisa Rivero is a freelance writer, home education parent, college instructor, and life-long learner. Rivero spent her childhood on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota before moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to attend college. She has an M.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a B.A. from Marquette University. Her professional interests include gifted education, home education, creativity, literature and the humanities, and the challenges faced by all families in this fast-paced and often perplexing 21st-century life. Rivero's interest in gifted education began when her son was an early entrant to kindergarten. After two and a half years of public school, where he was in a program for highly gifted students, and one and a half years in a private gifted school, her son began to learn at home rather than in a school classroom. Although the family never planned to homeschool long-term, Rivero's son made the decision to homeschool through high school. Homeschooling allowed him to learn and socialize at his own pace and in a way that met his needs, as well as gave him the time and freedom to know himself and to explore his interests. While Rivero knows that home education is not the optimal choice for every gifted child, she believes strongly that learning at home is an important and sometimes lifesaving option for families of gifted children, and it is often the best education for children who have a great passion and drive to learn.

Christi Craig works as a sign language interpreter by day and moonlights as a writer, teacher, and editor. She teaches online courses that focus on story structure, creativity, and flash nonfiction. She is also a volunteer instructor for the Creative Writing Class at Harwood Place Retirement Living Center in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, where she has edited four anthologies of poems, stories, and essays. Christi was an Assistant Editor at Compose Literary Journal and an Associate Editor for Noble / Gas Quarterly. She also volunteered on the novel acquisitions team during the 2016 submissions call for Forest Avenue Press. Her own stories and essays have appeared online and in print, and she received an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train's Family Matters Competition, 2010.