Stephen J. Herman first learned the art and craft of writing poetry at SUNY Oswego, where he received his undergraduate degree, a BA in English with honors. He then went on to beco...view moreStephen J. Herman first learned the art and craft of writing poetry at SUNY Oswego, where he received his undergraduate degree, a BA in English with honors. He then went on to become a writing fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he received an MFA in creative writing poetry before relocating to San Francisco with his life partner, Michael Lipp. Mr. Herman taught a highly popular Creative Writing Poetry Workshop at City College of San Francisco for twelve years and moved into the administration before retiring in 2010 as associate vice chancellor of administration and finance. In 1998, Mr. Herman was appointed to the Human Rights Commission by Mayor Willie Brown, where he served for two years. Later, he was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to the San Francisco HIV Council and served as cochair of the council for two years. Besides spending time in his beloved city of San Francisco, his passions include writing poetry, photography, traveling abroad, and spending time with Michael at their ranch in Cloverdale, California, where they tend and harvest the vines and olive trees they planted and make limited editions of their Rains Creek Moscato Dolce dessert wine and extra virgin Rains Creek olive oil.view less