Jay Schroder grew up in a Christian fundamentalist household in Canby, Oregon, where he learned the importance of being good and how to daydream during long sermons. He has spent the rest of his life unlearning the first lesson, and trying to capitalize on the second. He currently practices karate (he's a second degree blackbelt). Jay is also a student of a mystic-seer path called Sente which has shown him that most everything he's ever believed was true about himself is actually not, which is both great, and at times, disturbing. He teaches crowded creative writing and language arts classes at Eagle Point High School, where his students generously help to keep him humble. He's a Fishtrap Fellow, he's won several poetry awards and contests and has had his work published in numerous places. He lives in Talent, Oregon.