About Barn Raiser

Masthead

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  Joel Bleifuss

  Editor & Publisher

  Joel Bleifuss is Barn Raiser Editor & Publisher and Board President of Barn Raising Media Inc. He is a descendent of German and Scottish farmers who immigrated to the Upper Midwest in the 19th Century to become farmers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas. His grandmother was born in the Scottish Highlands to parents listed in the Census of Great Britain, 1881 as “farm servants” on land owned by the Duke of Fife. Joel himself was born and raised in Fulton, Mo., a small town on the edge of the Ozark Highlands. He got his start in journalism in 1983 as a feature writer and Saturday reporter/photographer for his hometown daily, the Fulton Sun. Bleifuss joined the staff of In These Times magazine in October 1986, stepping down as Editor & Publisher in April 2022, to join his fellow barn raisers in getting Barn Raiser off the ground.

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  Justin Perkins

  Deputy Editor & Publisher

  Justin Perkins is Barn Raiser Deputy Editor & Publisher and Board Clerk of Barn Raising Media Inc. He is currently finishing his Master of Divinity at the University of Chicago Divinity School. The son of a hog farmer, he grew up in Papillion, Neb., and got his start as a writer with his hometown newspaper the Papillion Times, The Daily Nebraskan, Rural America In These Times and In These Times. He has previous editorial experience at Prairie Schooner and Image.

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  Anne Mollo-Christensen

  Chief Executive Officer

  Anne Mollo-Christensen is the Chief Executive Officer and an Ex-officio Board Member of Barn Raising Media Inc. Anne was most recently Executive Vice President and Chief Digital and Strategy Officer at Outside Integrated Media, home of Outside magazine, Outside Online and the Outside Podcast.

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  Laura Orlando

  Contributing Editor

  Laura Orlando is a Contributing Editor at Barn Raiser and Board Treasurer of Barn Raising Media Inc. She is the Senior Science Advisor at Just Zero, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health, co-founder of the Ecological Health Network, former member of the Rural America In These Times editorial board and a former editorial collective member of Dollars & Sense magazine. Laura grew up on the family’s farm near Benton Harbor, Mich. Her expertise in ecological restoration, environmental systems and sustainable agriculture will deeply inform Barn Raiser’s editorial mission.

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  Dayton Martindale

  Contributing Editor

  Dayton Martindale is a Contributing Editor at Barn Raiser, host of Storytelling Animals podcast, and an experienced writer and editor on climate, environmental, and animal issues. His work has appeared in Rural America In These Times, In These Times, Sierra, The Ecologist, Earth Island Journal, Boston Review, The Next System Project and numerous other publications. Dayton's father was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, and grew up on a Washington farm; his mother is descended from a former Navajo slave as well as colonizing Spanish landowners in what is now New Mexico. Dayton grew up in a California suburb, just a few miles away from Los Angeles on one side and farmland on the other, and now lives in Detroit. He is passionate about building a kinder, more just world for ourselves and for the creatures wild and domestic with whom we share it.

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  Rebecca Sterner

  Circulation Director

  Rebecca Sterner is Circulation Director. As an independent publishing consultant, she provides strategic planning and problem-solving for magazine publishers, and creative marketing services in magazine circulation. Rebecca is a former publisher of Utne Reader and the current Circulation Director at In These Times.

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  Bryce Oates

  Contributing Editor (Rural Community Organizing)

  Bryce Oates writes The Cocklebur on Substack and is a Contributing Editor (Rural Community Organizing) at Barn Raiser. He writes about rural policy, people, places and politics. His work includes narrative nonfiction, opinion pieces and Q&A interviews. Bryce studies how the federal budget affects rural counties, farm and food policy, public lands and conservation issues, racial and gender equity in rural areas, climate change, economic inequality, rural demographic data and rural politics. A former farmer, rural economic developer and community organizer, he lives and works in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

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  Paco Alvarez

  Assistant Editor

  Paco Alvarez is Barn Raiser Assistant Editor. Previously, he was the Don and Doris Shaffer Research Fellow at Type Investigations, a staff writer for the immigration newsletter Migratory Notes, and a Fall 2020 Civic Reporting Fellow for City Bureau, where he covered the 2020 elections and political participation in immigrant communities. His work has appeared in the Chicago Reader, Block Club Chicago and South Side Weekly.