make art with what you got--bandit queen press One of the missions that Bandit Queen Press has always held is that of giving young people a space to publish. Publishing to me has always been about having a dialogue between difference. The whole beauty of picking up a book is to be transported to another place, another experience, which is why the way in which modern publishing is set up really gets to me. The reason publishing looks the way it does, is because we have allowed it to reflect a power structure that, well, let's face it, isn't working. Anyway, books can be portals to compassion. A way of putting yourself in other's shoes and empathizing with that person/character. Literature can be powerful, revolutionary even, in this way. When I started teaching at my current job, there were a few students who caught my attention. One was D. D has always been this kid with an old soul. I distinctly remember when he started at that school. I was a substitute there a...