People

Avery Bleichfeld is science editor and staff reporter at the Bay State Banner.

Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, has been the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University, a position he has held since 1988. An internationally known author and lecturer, he received his primary school education in New York City, and attended secondary schools in Switzerland and New England. After graduating from Harvard College in 1940, he spent a year and a half in Harvard Law School before serving in the United States Navy, emerging with the rank of lieutenant. Past President of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society and Professor Emeritus at The Catholic University of America, Cardinal Dulles has served on the International Theological Commission and as a member of the United States Lutheran/Roman Catholic Dialogue. Cardinal Dulles served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974 and that of The Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988. He has been a visiting professor at: The Gregorian University (Rome), Weston School of Theology, Union Theological Seminary (New York, NY), Princeton Theological Seminary, Episcopal Seminary (Alexandria, VA), Lutheran Theological Seminary (Gettysburg, PA), Boston College, Campion Hall (Oxford University), the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic University at Leuven, Yale University, and St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie.

Avidan Cover, J.D. is Professor of Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law and Director of the Institute for Global Security Law & Policy. Cover teaches in the Civil Rights and Human Rights Clinic in the Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center, where he supervises students representing clients in civil lawsuits primarily in the areas of civil rights, including freedom of speech, unlawful force, and housing discrimination as well as documenting human rights abuses. He also teaches courses in constitutional law, race and American law and international humanitarian law. Cover’s scholarship focuses on human rights, civil rights and national security law. He has appeared in numerous news media, including The New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN, FOX News and Court TV.

Fellow at The New Institute in Hamburg, Germany, Avram Alpert is the author of three books, _The Good Enough Life_ (Princeton University Press, 2022) being the latest. Alpert works to understand what values we can live by in a world as connected, chaoticm and potentially catastrophic as the present. After receiving his PhD, he has taught at Rutgers and Princeton University. With Rit Prenmnath, he co-edited and co-managed the programming of _Shifter Magazine_ from 2014-2021. In 2018, with Meleko Mokgosi and Anthea Behm, he cofounded the Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program at Jack Shainman Gallery. His other books are : _Global Origins of the Modern Self, from Montaigne to Suzuki_ (SUNY Press, 2019) and _A Partial Enlightenment : What Modern Literature and Buddhism Can Teach Us About Living Well without Perfection_ (Columbia University Press, 2021). His writing has also appeared in _Aeon_, _The Chronicle of Higher Education_, _the Los Angeles Review of Books_, _The New York Times_, _the Washington Post_, _Truhout_, and elsewhere.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is an advocate, a policy-maker, an activist, and a survivor. On November 6, 2018, Congresswoman Pressley was elected to represent Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, making her the first woman of color to be elected to Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts 7th is the most diverse and most unequal district in the state, requiring a representative whose experiences are reflective of the people. Like many in her district, Congresswoman Pressley has endured numerous hardships throughout her life, and it is because of those experiences that she remains a dedicated activist who’s devoted to creating robust and informed policies that speak to the intersectionality of her district’s lived experiences. She believes that the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power and that a diversity of voices in the political process is essential to making policies that benefit more Americans. Born in Cincinnati and raised in Chicago, Congresswoman Pressley is the only child of a single mother and a father who was in and out of the criminal justice system - creating an unstable household and forcing her to mature at a rapid rate. While her father ultimately overcame his addiction and went on to become a published author, Congresswoman Pressley was primarily raised by her mother Sandra Pressley, a tenants’ rights organizer who instilled in her the value of civic engagement. Thanks to her mother’s dedication to activism, Congresswoman Pressley has always been acutely aware of the role that government can play in lifting up families and communities. Congresswoman Pressley attended the Francis W. Parker School, a private school in Chicago where her activism and commitment to public service took hold. A devoted student, Congresswoman Pressley was supported by her teachers, faculty, and peers and was elected class president every year from 7th grade through senior year of high school. She was also elected student government president, was a competitive debater through her school’s chapter of Junior State of America, was the commencement speaker for her graduating class, and was named “most likely to be mayor of Chicago.” Congresswoman Pressley moved to Boston, MA in 1992 to attend Boston University, however, after a couple of years of enrollment, she withdrew from the University to help support her mother. She remained an activist in the community, working as a senior aide to Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II, volunteering for Senator John Kerry’s reelection campaign, and working for Senator Kerry for 13 years in a variety of roles, including constituency director and political director. Senator Kerry described Congresswoman Pressley as a “force” who "believed in public service."

Ayelet Waldman is the author of _A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life_, the novels _Love and Treasure, Red Hook Road, Love__ and Other Impossible Pursuits_, and _Daughter's Keeper_, as well as of the essay collection _Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace_ and the _Mommy-Track Mystery_ series. She is the editor of _Inside This Place_, _Not of It: Narratives from Women's Prisons_ and of the forthcoming _Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation_. She was a Federal public defender and an adjunct professor at the UC Berkeley law school where she developed and taught a course on the legal implications of the War on Drugs. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, Michael Chabon, and their four children.

**Ayr Muir** is the founder and CEO of Clover Food Lab, a vegetarian fast food chain. Muir is a MIT material science graduate and Harvard MBA alum who got started in 2008 with food trucks and then restaurants in Massachusetts, serving fast-casual, vegetarian meals to meat eaters.

**Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀** has written for the BBC, LitHub, The Guardian(UK) and others. She has received fellowships and residencies from MacDowell Colony, Ledig House, Sinthian Cultural Centre, Hedgebrook, Ox-bow School of Arts, and Ebedi Hills. She holds BA and MA degrees in Literature in English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife. Ayọ̀bámi also has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia where she was awarded an international bursary for creative writing. In 2017, she won The Future Awards Africa Prize for Arts and Culture. She has worked as an editor for Saraba magazine since 2009. Photo: [AyobamiAdebayo.com](http://ayobamiadebayo.com/about-ayobami/ "About Ayobami")

Azhar Chougle is the Director of Transit Alliance Miami. Since joining the organization, Transit Alliance has reversed $15 million in transit budget cuts through grassroots advocacy, created the world's first real-time transit audit for Miami's rail system, and launched a campaign designed to fix Miami's ailing bus system. Azhar comes from a creative background with expertise in branding, design, and coding and moved to Miami from New York City. [LiveableStreets](https://www.livablestreets.info/8th\_annual\_streettalk\_10\_in\_1?utm\_campaign=giving\_tuesday\_email\_1&utm\_medium=email&utm\_source=livablestreetsalliance "Liveable Streets")

Azita is the senior politics editor for GBH News. Prior to her current role, Azita was the planning editor for the flagship local nightly news show, Greater Boston. Feedback? Questions? Story ideas? Reach out to Azita at azita.ghahramani@gbh.org.