Dane Ritter was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. His research and poetry about Eastern Kentucky and the Appalachian Region previously received the William Hugh Jansen and the James S. Brown Graduate Awards. His creative work, featured in several publications like The Cortland Review, Still: the Journal, and Cold Mountain Review, explores the environmental devastation of mountaintop removal often understood through a queer Appalachian lens. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his growing family. His research interests are in contemporary Affrilachian, Appalachian, and African American literature and culture and their intersections in place-based writing. He implores all to discover easy ways to save the environment here: https://www.50waystohelp.com/