Brattleboro Words Project Advisory Team

Advisory Team Members / May 2023

William Edelglass, PhD is Director of Studies at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. He publishes broadly in Buddhist studies, environmental humanities, and philosophy. He is chair of the board of directors of the International Association of Environmental Philosophy and co-editor of the journal, Environmental Philosophy. His most recent publication is The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy (2022). William was Professor of Philosophy and Director of Environmental Studies at Marlboro College when he joined the Brattleboro Words Project in 2017 and is a tenured professor at the Marlboro Institute at Emerson College. William is committed to providing resources for interdisciplinary humanities approaches to the small towns of Vermont, and does so regularly through the Vermont Humanities Council and the Osher Institute (University of Vermont). 

Shanta Lee is an award winning artist who works in different mediums as a photographer, writer across genres and is a public intellectual whose work has been widely featured. She is the author of  GHETTOCLAUSTROPHOBIA: Dreamin of Mama While Trying to Speak in Woke Tongues, named 2021 Vermont Book Awards winner, winner of the 2020 Diode Press full-length book prize with an honorable mention from the Sheila Margaret Motton prize. Shanta Lee’s recent collection Black Metamorphoses (Etruscan Press, 2023) illustrated by Alan Blackwell,is best described as a 2000+ year old phone line opened to Ovid as well as an interrogation of the Greek mythos while creating her own new language in this work. This latest work has been longlisted for the 2021 Idaho poetry prize, shortlisted for the 2021 Cowles Poetry Book Prize, and named a finalist in the 2021 Hudson prize.

Shanta Lee gives lectures on the life of Lucy Terry Prince (c. 1730-1821) — considered the first known African-American poet in English literature — as a member of the Vermont and New Hampshire Humanities Council Speakers Bureaus. She is the 2020 gubernatorial appointee to the Vermont Humanities Council’s board of directors. Shanta was introduced to Lucy Terry Prince in her leadership and involvement in the Brattleboro Words Trail. Her work has included helping to establish a state historical marker, is one of the advisors for Jay Craven’s film, Lost Nation, which includes a focus on Lucy Terry Prince, and she continues producing audio for segments connected to the African American Heritage Trail. Her current multimedia exhibition (including her short film, photography, and other curated work), Dark Goddess: An Exploration of the Sacred Feminine, is on view at the Fleming Museum of Art until the end of May 2023. To explore her work visit: Shantalee.com

Rolf Parker-Houghton was initially principal historian for the Brattleboro Words Trail, and helped compile a preliminary list of potential locations and topics for the trail. He is a free-lance writer of history, science and math education, and feature articles on topics and personalities related to Vermont. Parker-Houghton also runs the street theater company, “The University of Brattleboro” along with his wife, the artist Cynthia Parker-Houghton, and any collaborators they can find. www.universityobrattleboro.com

Sally Seymour brings film and audio experience to the Advisory Team. With her love of music and photography she assumed roles as writer, director and editor. She serves on the board of the Harris Hill Ski Jump and the Estey Organ Museum; has worked on middle school musicals; spends summers cruising the waters in Maine; and loves capturing life’s moments with her camera.

Starr LaTronica is the Director of the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro, Vermont. Starr has served as chair of the Newbery Committee and the Wilder Award,  a judge for the National Book Award, a member of the Caldecott Committee, a judge for the New York Times Best Illustrated Books and is a past president of the Association for Library Service to Children. 

Lissa Weinmann is a journalist, producer, communications specialist and director of the Brattleboro Words Project and executive producer for Brattleboro Words Trail audio stories and the Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast, which she also hosts. She is a founding partner of 118 Elliot, a gallery and community arts & education space in downtown Brattleboro, a key sponsor of the Brattleboro Words Project. She wrote the chapter on the Wesselhoeft water cure in Print Town: Brattleboro’s Legacy of Words and wrote/produced/edited audio for various trail segments and trained many others in these skills. She serves on the Windham World Affairs Council board and is Vice Chair of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel where she focuses on federal nuclear waste policy, or lack thereof. She directed an educational project on US-Cuba policy from 1997 to 2017 at the World Policy Institute in New York where she produced annual National Summit on Cuba conferences, published widely and opined in Congress and other fora. She’s helped produce and consulted on various documentary films. She got her BS from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communication and an MA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is a lifelong student of yoga. She’s married 28 years to John Loggia, has two adult offspring and lives with a sweet pup, turtles and some big maples in Brattleboro.