ODYSSEY STORYTELLING PHOTOS and BIOS

APRIL 1, 2010 - "Green Stories - Adventures in Sustainability"

Terry Dee has been Director of Retail Operations for the HabiStore since its organization in 2006. He has almost 20 years experience in the retail home improvement industry including 15 years with Home Depot. Prior to leaving the organization, he was the Community Affairs Liaison, where he was awarded the Governor's Pride Award for his environmental initiatives including TreeCycle. Terry has served on the Board of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Tucson Children's Museum. He was also the Project Leader for three playgrounds for nonprofits including Food Bank, Southside YMCA and the Arizona Deaf & Blind School . He was the Co-Chairman of the SAHBA home show and was chosen as SAHBA Member Of The Year in 2004. He is a Cherub at Angel Charity for Children, Inc. Terry continues to make valuable connections that benefit both the HabiStore and Habitat.

Annie Gustafson: Like the crop circles in her native state of Indiana, Annie's interest in storytelling has been intentional, certainly, but not linear. As a grade school girl scout, a high school journalist, and a college-era outdoorswoman, her attraction to story has remained consistent throughout her eclectic pursuits. A resident of Tempe for the last five years, Annie moved to Arizona to attend graduate school at ASU and earned an MA in environmental history in 2008. She focused her research on Arizona water policy, and likes to cite this as the reason why she installed fake turf in her back yard. "While most of my 'back east' friends are shoveling this time of year, I enjoy reminding them that I use an outdoor vacuum for my yard maintenance," she joked. A loyal member of a Phoenix-area Community Supported Agriculture group, Annie faithfully devotes part of every weekend to "playing with vegetables." In addition to grilling tofu and turning the compost pile, Annie is a student at the storytelling institute at South Mountain Community College and serves as the Outreach Director at Radio Phoenix. She has hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon without the assistance of mules, and also enjoys spending quality time outdoors with her dog, Eloise, and the dog's favorite toy: a Frisbee.

Gina Murphy-Darling has been an active member of the Tucson community for over 35 years. She is currently the host of Tucson's top-rated weekend talk show, Mrs. Green Goes Mainstream, News Talk 790 KNST and can be heard every Saturday on 92.9 the Mountain's Green Tuesdays. Mrs. Green interviews people from all over the country who are leaders in sustainability in every conceivable discipline. Gina's experience includes administrative positions in both the private and public sector. She was the founder and CEO of Parents and Children Together (PACT), one of the first in-home counseling businesses in the United States, and the President and Co-founder of Providence Service Corporation, a publicly traded human service organization. Ms. Murphy-Darling was also the co-founder and served as the President of StrengthBuilding Partners for 5 years before starting her current company, One Green Heart in 2008. She has been an active member of Tucson Sunrise Rotary for over 19 years and served as the Club's first woman president. Gina also served as the General Chairman for Angel Charity for Children 2009 and was named as one of Tucson's Top Ten Women of Influence in 2008.

Gwen Ray has been performing as a puppeteer and storyteller in Tucson for the past 25 years. She enjoys sharing her childhood memories based upon her West Texas high plains origins. Her background includes professional training at the Puppet Centre and Norwich Puppet Theatre in England,L'Institut de La Marionettein France, and Bread and Puppet Theater in Vermont. She has also been a solo performer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and has produced and directed children's television programming. Recently, she has been studying the red-nose clowning method under the fantastic direction of Giovanni Fusetti.

Albert Vetere Lannon is a former juvenile delinquent, zoo keeper, warehouse and factory worker, union official, labor educator, and historian. Born and raised in New York City, he lived many years in San Francisco and retired to Tucson nine years ago to become an award-winning poet. He is a community activist living in Picture Rocks with his beloved mate: poet, storyteller and artist Kaitlin Meadows.

Rebecca (Beki) Quintero married her high school sweetheart, Ric, in 1973. They have 3 children and one grandchild. Beki has been active in student council and became one of the original founders of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association back in late 1988. She adopted Fiesta Park as soon as it was developed with Tucson Clean & Beautiful's "Adopt a Park" program. The park has been renamed Manuel Herrera Jr. Park. She created a Peace Garden in the same park with neighborhood children in 2004 and has been it's coordinator ever since. In 2007 Beki wrote a book about the Peace Garden. She bagan working with Tucson Clean & Beautiful 3 years ago.

Jane is one of only eight people to agree to live sealed in an artificial world for two whole years… and succeed. Her training for Biosphere 2 led her to ride the rugged and isolated Australian Outback on horseback, and sail across the Indian Ocean and Red Sea on a concrete research boat. Involved in the Biosphere from the start, she managed the design and operation of the farm where the crew grew its food. She authored The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2, published by Thunder’s Mouth Press in 2006.  Jane is now President of Paragon Space Development Corporation , which develops technologies for extreme environments (like outer space, under water and hyper-efficient buildings).