Divergents Staff
©Divergents Publishing LTD
Editorial Staff
Alethia Smith - Lifestyle Editor
Ben Mitchell - Publisher - Ben.Mitchell@divergents-magazine.org
Deborahanne Mayer - CFO - Business@divergents-magazine.org
John Rose - Poetry Editor
Keith Costello - Contributing Editor and Columnist - keith.costello@divergents-magazine.org
Leon Rice - Vice President - Civil Rights Editor Business@divergents-magazine.org
Mac Gander - Editor In Chief - Gander@divergents-magazine.org
Alethia Smith - Lifestyle Editor
A native of St. Louis, Alethia holds an Associate degree in art, a Bachelor of Arts in human services, and a Master of Arts in teaching. As well as being an Accredited event designer. Alethia worked as a residential assistant in college, where she was responsible for coordinating multiple events for hundreds of students. This is where she developed a true love for event planning. After college, she led a number of independent partnerships, focused on developing and managing promotion events. She is known for engaging her talents and ideas in fun, exciting, and unconventional ways.
Ben Mitchell, Publisher & Contributing Editor
With an MFA in Poetry from Goddard College, Ben Mitchell has published poems in more than fifty literary magazines all over the US, Canada, and the UK. Mitchell’s first book of poems, Only the Sound Itself, was published by Codhill Press in 2010. In 2012, Mitchell was one of four poets invited to read his work at the first poetry reading of Parabola Magazine.
Deborahanne Mayer - CFO
Deborahanne grew up in Medford, Mass to an Italian American, Irish and Syrian family. She excelled in long distance running and was a standout as a high school athlete. She practiced ballet, tap and jazz from age 5 and carried these talents into college, though ultimately deciding upon a career in the legal field. The first in her family to receive a college degree, upon graduation, she moved to South Boston, worked for a Boston law firm during the day and moonlighting as a jazz dancer for a club in Cambridge. Ultimately, hearing her biological clock ticking, she made a decision to have children and dedicated her life to raising them. Now that the chickens have fled the coop, Deborahanne now splits her time between being a legal eagle, rowing on her Concept 2, practice target shooting and singing in her band, Debbie and the Downers.
John Rose - Poetry Editor
John Rose is a long-time professor at Landmark College, where he teaches creative writing. John studied with James Tate at U-Mass Amherst, where he received his MFA, and has been working for more than two decades on Woad, an epic poem centered on the events of a single moment on Flag Day, 1968, when a young boy came to full awareness.
Keith Costello - Contributing Editor and Columnist.
Originally from Philadelphia and filled with manic passion after reading Kerouac's "On the Road", he ran afoul of his "Greatest Generation" parents. As a result, Keith is a 1988 graduate of Valley Forge Military Academy. After 3yrs in military school, he set out to write his own story that, as he puts it..."spreads from coast to coast like butter on toast." He has spent a lifetime collecting stories and memories from inner city barrooms to high class beach towns all over America. A poet, a writer, a husband, veteran and a father, Keith also has coped with hypomania, insomnia, PTSD, ADHD, chronic pain and addiction. There is nothing that Keith hasn't seen, heard or most assuredly done. He calls Portland, Maine home and is actively seeking divergent thinkers as guests for his podcast: "Y'all ain't right: A Conversation."
Leon Rice, Vice President - Civil Rights Editor
Leon was born into the Civil Rights movement: in the 1960’s, his grandfather had to move his family and career from Natchez, Mississippi to Chicago, Illinois. As a prominent member of the NAACP, he found himself next on the KKK hit-list, just after Medgar Evers. This has formed the foundation for everything that came after. Leon graduated from Landmark College as a member of Phi Theta Kappa. During his time at Landmark, he served as the VP of the campus chapter of Phi Theta Kappa and the first black male Residence Advisor. Over the years, he’s been a basketball coach, an educator, an entrepreneur, and most notably, a writer and a photographer.
Mac Gander - Editor In Chief
In July of 2023 I end a 36-year career at Landmark College, a journey that took me through many roles. I spent nine years as English department chair, and then 11 years as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College. For seven of those years I led Student Affairs as well as Academic Affairs. Since I returned to the faculty as a full professor in 2009 I have taught courses in education, composition, creative writing, literature, journalism, media studies, and leadership. Along the way I earned an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Change; my 2007 doctoral dissertation was called Toward a New Paradigm for Learning Disability.