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Dr. Forman's main research interests are in the social uses of popular music and the critical analysis of media industries, cultural production, and communication. His work also engages with issues of media and representation in contemporary society, with particular emphasis on images and discourses pertaining to race and ethnicity and issues of youth, elders, and age in society. He is the author of *The 'Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop* (Wesleyan University Press, 2002) and co-editor, with Mark Anthony Neal, of *'That's the Joint!': The Hip-Hop Studies Reader* (Routledge, 2004), as well as authoring numerous articles on youth, race, popular music, television, and film. Dr. Forman serves on the advisory board of the Archives of African American Music and Culture (Indiana University) as well as serving on editorial advisory boards of several scholarly journals.

Isaiah Jackson is Conductor Emeritus of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston. He has led many distinguished American orchestras over the years, including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Houston, Dallas, Toronto, San Francisco, Detroit, and Indianapolis, as well as the Boston Pops, Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, and National Symphony (Washington, DC). While still a student at The Juilliard School of Music, Jackson was engaged as Leopold Stokowski's assistant with the American Symphony Orchestra and named Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony. He later held posts with the orchestras of Baltimore and Rochester. Born in 1945 in Richmond, Virginia, Jackson is a cum laude graduate of Harvard, where he majored in Russian history and literature. He holds graduate degrees from Stanford University and The Juilliard School of Music. He has also studied at Fontainebleau, Aspen, and Tanglewood. At Harvard, he is a Fellow in the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute.

Juan Martinez is the executive director of MassVOTE, a non-partisan voting rights organization. Under his direction, MassVOTE has expanded its community programming to over 300 non-profit organizations in six cities in Massachusetts that have worked to increase voter registration and turnout in their neighborhoods. Since 2004, MassVOTE has distributed multilingual voter education materials to thousands of voters, successfully completed an 11-city Election Protection project and launched a Voter Access Campaign with Election Day Registration and poll worker reform at its heart. Prior to joining MassVOTE, Juan was president of Darkhorse Media, a company that worked with non-profits to improve their media outreach, marketing and fundraising strategies. In addition, Juan spent six years in public broadcasting managing community outreach, education and civic journalism projects. An alumnus of the LeadBoston and Commonwealth Legislative Seminar programs, Juan also serves on the board of the West End House Boys & Girls Club of Allston-Brighton.

Marylou Sudders became President and Chief Executive Officer of MSPCC in February of 2003. Previous to this, Marylou was Commissioner of Mental Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for seven years, serving as the Commonwealth's chief spokesperson on mental health issues. In May 1999, she was honored as one of the selected invitees to the first White House Conference on Mental Health. In June, 2002, she testified before Congress on the issue of criminal justice and mental illness. Marylou holds a Master's Degree in Social Work and a Bachelor's Degree with honors from Boston University. She serves on the Governor's Commissions on Children's Mental Health and on Sexual and Domestic Violence. She is a member of the National Association of Social Work, the Academy of Certified Social Workers, the Child Welfare League of America, and the Children's League of Massachusetts. She is the recipient of several prestigious local and national awards, including the 2004 Friend and Leader award by the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health; the 2004 Social Worker of the year award from the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers; and the National Association of Social Workers Foundation's 2004 Knee/Wittman Outstanding Achievement in Health and Mental Health Policy Award. Marylou also serves on the Board of the Pine Street Inn and Massachusetts Association for Mental Health.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., is a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He gives public talks and workshops throughout the world on mindfulness and its applications for moving toward greater sanity and balance in today's multitasking, high-speed world. He is professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he was founding executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, and founder and former director of its world-renowned Stress Reduction Clinic. His work has contributed to a growing movement of mindfulness into mainstream fields and institutions in our society such as medicine, health care and hospitals, the law, schools, corporations, prisons, and professional sports. He is the author of *Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness* (1991), translated into seven languages; *Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life* (1994), translated into 20 languages; and coauthor, with his wife Myla, of *Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting* (1997), translated into three languages. His new book is *Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness *(2005).

Kevin K. Kumashiro, PhD, the founding director of CAOE, is professor and chair of Educational Policy Studies and interim co-director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was formerly the coordinator of Asian American Studies. His research, teaching, and activism are redefining the field of "anti-oppressive education" as he develops new approaches to addressing issues of social justice in schools.