Welcome, Fred McKissack

Summer 2007

	Fred McKissack, Rethinking Schools' new managing editor Photo: Lisa Beringer

By the Editors of Rethinking Schools

With this issue, Fred McKissack joins Rethinking Schools as our new managing editor. Fred has nearly 20 years experience as a writer and editor, most recently serving as an award-winning editorial writer for the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette. He has worked at such diverse publications as The Progressive, the Progressive Media Project, sportingnews.com, and the Wisconsin State Journal. His articles, op-eds, and reviews have been published by the Washington Post, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, Vibe, The Source, and In These Times.

In addition to his journalistic work, Fred has written and contributed to books for young people. In 1995, he was a Coretta Scott King Honor Book awardee as co-author of Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues (Scholastic, 1994). He is also the author of Black Hoops (Scholastic, 1999), and contributed to Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice, and Life (Amistad, 2002). Fred is currently working on a graphic novel based on the life of the celebrated black cowboy Nat Love, aka "Deadwood Dick," for San Francisco-based Chronicle Books.

Fred hit the ground running in his new position, representing Rethinking Schools along with editors Wayne Au, Bill Bigelow, Terry Burant, Stan Karp, David Levine, Larry Miller, Rita Tenorio, and business manager Mike Trokan at the 2007 American Educational Research Association conference in Chicago. Everyone at Rethinking Schools knew that Fred came with hefty editorial credentials, but we've also begun to discover his warmth and his quick wit. We feel fortunate that he agreed to join us.

Fred will mostly work from his home office in Fort Wayne, where he lives with his wife, Lisa Beringer, a college sociology instructor, and their 3-year-old son, Mark.

Summer 2007