After receiving an M.S. in ecology and evolutionary biology, Laurie McKean worked as an environmental biologist and bio-archaeologist (researched bone material at the Florida State Museum and University of Arizona from archaeological sites, then studied toward a PhD in biology). She later received an M.A. in Special Ed and taught for eleven years teaching a myriad of subjects in a school within a psychiatric hospital in Raleigh NC. In 2006, Laurie moved to Prescott, AZ and began making welded steel sculpture ( www.lauriemckean.com). Experiences in biology and art frequently work their way into her poetry. website: www.lauriemckean.com