Melanie Perish is a writer, student, and teacher. She knows it is a privilege to be the Director of Development and Alumni Relations for the College of Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. Melanie is a member of Poets & Writers, Inc., has done Poets in the Schools in New York and Utah, and has served on the Scholarship Committee of the Women's Writing Workshops in upstate New York (1978-1983). Her chapbooks include Notes of a Daughter from the Old Country (Motheroot Publications) and Traveling the Distance (Rising Tide Press). Her poems have appeared in Utah Holiday, Calyx, and Sinister Wisdom. Melanie lives in Reno and cannot imagine a life that does not include the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Grace present in their sky.