Christie Jones is the Director of Education at Mercer Botanic Garden, which dates from the 1940s when Thelma and Charles Mercer preserved native trees such as dogwoods, Cabbage Palmettos, Rusty…

Carol Price is the co-owner of Standards & Falls Iris, established in 2022 by Louise Jamail, Melinda Nickens and Carol Shanks Price. The founders grew Louisiana Irises as a hobby…

Aban Rustomji is the founder of the Zoroastrian Assocation of Houston Library and co-chair of the FEZANA Information Research and Education System (FIRES). A career library media specialist with a…

James McWilliams is a writer and historian who teaches at Texas State University. His work has appeared in Oxford American, Virginia Quarterly Review, the New Yorker, the Paris Review, the American Scholar, and Mississippi Review. He specializes in…

Iris Clawson Davis, Senior Director of Greenspace at Hermann Park Conservancy brings over 20 years of horticultural experience. Formerly the City Horticulturist for Houston, she has led ecological restoration, urban…

Stephen Sherman is a research scientist at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research’s Center for Housing and Neighborhoods at Rice University. He regularly appears on local news programs, such as…

Evan Leslie is an arts educator and cellist.  He is the Managing Director of the Texas Music Festival and the director of UH Community Arts.  In Houston, Evan was formerly…