For Beginners: Unions for Beginners

David Cogswell is a writer based in Hoboken, N.J. He has written thousands of articles on business, travel, politics, and the arts for various print and online publications, including Democratic Underground, Bushwatch, Prison Planet, Indymedia.org, Fortune.com, Travel Weekly, the Hudson Current, and the Jersey Journal. He has contributed pieces to a number of political books, including Fortunate Son, The Making of an American President, by J.H. Hatfield; Ambushed: The Hidden History of the Bush Family by Toby Rogers; and America’s Autopsy Report, by John Kaminski. He’s the publisher of the political and media commentary website HeadBlast (www.davidcogswell.com), which was banned in China and named as a notable antiwar website by The Guardian.

C.M. Butzer was born and raised in a small town in Oregon just outside of Portland. In 1992 Butzer left Oregon to attend Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where he earned a BFA in Illustration. After school he worked for Wizards of the Coast. In 1997 he travelled all over the American West bouncing from teaching environmental education, bartending to a half dozen other things. In 1998 he moved to Florence, Italy to become a tour guide on the Italian renaissance. In Florence, he met Luigi Galante, who ran a didactic illustration studio. C.M. apprenticed for six months and was hired on as a full time illustrator. He worked for Studio Galante for nearly five years before moving to New York City to earn his MFA at the School Visual Arts. Butzer Graduated 2005 and worked since as a Cartoonist and Illustrator. In 2009 Harper Collins published his Gettysburg the graphic novel. He is currently working on his second book and working as a storyboard and concept illustrator at JWT advertising agency. His work has been featured in the Society of Illustrators, American Library Association, and the Graphic Novel Reporter.