More about Jess

Over 15 years’ experience as an educator. Began teaching pottery and farming skills as a teenager, continued teaching at CUNY at as a founding faculty member at Bard HS Early College Queens. Created a new library from scratch for one of the most sought-after, selective and diverse high schools in NYC. Revitalized a family literacy program in Harlem and redesigned two Title 1 charter school libraries in Astoria and LIC, Queens.

Jess’s first national publication at sixteen reflected an early interest in education. “What’s Wrong with High School Today?” appeared in USA Today Magazine in 1996. From there, she published “Unschool!” in Seventeen Magazine, 2001, and numerous poems and fictional works.

Other Publications:

School Library Journal

Ms.

Newsweek

Literary journals such as Quarterly West and monkeybicycle.