Erin Blakely graduated with a B.A. from the University of Michigan, before moving to New York and working at an independent school for elementary and middle school students with learning differences. She earned her master's degree in education at San Francisco State University, where she later taught research methodologies in the Graduate College of Education. For her thesis, she conducted an ethnography on the normalization of narrative form in a diasporic community in Northern California. She spent the next decade coordinating action research projects, designing family leadership and English Language Learning programs for PreK-8 public schools, and facilitating county-wide equity initiatives. She subsequently did postgraduate work in Denmark. Her research interests include critical theory, cultural studies, pragmatism, social practice theory, history of the family, language socialization, narrative, and research design. She now lives in southern California, working in higher education, writing, and making mixed media collages. David Hemphill is Professor Emeritus in the Graduate College of Education at San Francisco State University, having worked there as a faculty member for over 35 years. His research and teaching interests include international and multicultural education, cultural studies, critical theory, postmodern and postcolonial theory, popular culture and popular music, adult education, literacy, second language acquisition, and research methods. He received the Imogene Okes Research Award of the American Association for Adult, Alternative and Continuing Education for his adult literacy research. While at the university he led the development of two doctoral programs, pioneered multiple international initiatives, worked as a visiting scholar in Poland, Thailand, and Japan, and served as Department Chair, Director of Graduate Studies, and Associate Dean. Prior to coming to the university, Hemphill worked for a decade as an English language teacher and program director in community-based organizations in Oakland and San Francisco serving adult Asian immigrants and refugees. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Asian Languages from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.A. in Bilingual Education and Ed.D. in Educational Organization and Leadership from the University of San Francisco. He was brought up in Tokyo and Washington, DC and speaks several Asian and European languages. He is also a trombonist and musical arranger.
