Activist♥Editor
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Big news! 

​At this time, I am no longer seeking new editing and writing clients. I have turned my attention in no small part to a project that is one of the best things I've worked on yet — helping my mother tell the story of her life. 

An adventure in homegrown oral history making, Meet Me in the Margin will take the reader on a ride through radicalized Norwegian, American, disabled, mentally ill, queer, polyamorous, interfaith, and intergenerational landscapes, weaving together stories of love and transformation between worlds and across psyches. You can join the fun at MeetMeInTheMargin.com. I am so excited to be on this journey with my mother, and I'm excited for you to come along with us, too.

If you are a current client, nothing has changed. If you are new to my work, I still welcome you to reach out for inquiries and consultations. At the bottom of this page are navigation links to learn more about my work as ActivistEditor.com.

With compersion, Anna


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In 2019, I copyedited a blog series to celebrate Forward Together turning 30.

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In 2019, I supported FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund in drafting their new participatory strategic framework. 


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In 2018 I began blogging for Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center.


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In 2018, I began a consulting relationship with the UndocuBlack Network.


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In 2017, I contributed writing and developmental editing to annual reporting for the work conducted by Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights.


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In 2017, I joined Black Lives Matter Global Network and the Movement for Black Lives' combined efforts to help change, not just the face of media, but the embodied stories and deeper empathic narratives that get air time, as an editing and writing consultant for Channel Black.


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In the spring of 2017, I offered copyediting to Forward Together's Report A Path Forward: Ending Gender-Based Violence in New Mexico. 

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In 2019, I drafted an in-house organizational style guide for Resource Generation.

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In 2018, I conducted research and analysis to write an internal report for the benefit of UAF's Sister Fund community to learn about the unique impact they are making on philanthropy as an interdependent network of funds.


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In 2018, I contributed copywriting and copyediting to program materials distributed at the UnitedWeDream Congress.


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In 2017, I became a regular copy editor for Groundswell Fund.


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Delighted to have contributed copyediting for a third time in a row in 2017 to the Strong Families New Mexico Legislative Report Card.


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In February 2017, I copyedited #BLM and HuffPo's Black Futures Month blog series, supporting the important voices of dozens of writers to reach more people, including supporting Shanelle Matthews' lead piece and critical vision, Black Imagination, A Vital Way Forward. 


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In the summer of 2015 I came across a listserv message from Hanna Thomas at SumOfUs.org and I knew I needed to be a part of the creation of the first of its kind — A Progressive's Style Guide. Published nearly a year later in spring 2016, this project inspired me to reach across an ocean, spend countless hours writing and editing in between graduate coursework, and take a lot of deep breaths knowing that this is only a beginning. Our hope is that using this guide will help movement folks be better able to talk from the intersections. That means taking a chance at coming together, across issues and across the world, to begin to articulate to each other as progressives how we can do better talking about each other, where we differ, where we overlap, and how we are together as we fight oppression. While we have no doubt created a guide that brings in a lot of information, we have probably also created a guide that already falls short in describing the richness of intersectional identities and causes. As I vision into future iterations of this work, I hope to respond to this question and to do so through responding to your feedback. 


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In the winter of 2016, I designed the cover art for Dr. Jacob Towery's first book, The Anti-Depressant Book: A Practical Guide for Teens and Young Adults to Overcome Depression and Stay Healthy.


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In the fall of 2015, I was the final proofreader for David Early's book, The General Plan in California, published through Solano Press Books.


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In the summer of 2015, I contributed copyediting to a joint project, "Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families," by Forward Together/Strong Families, Ella Baker Center, and Research Action Design that is getting national press attention and will help illuminate the important story of the incredible and unjust intergenerational impact of mass incarceration on women and communities of color. (Artwork by Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski.)


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In the winter of 2015, I contributed developmental editing on a landscape report that surveyed equitable housing and workforce development projects in Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area. My work led to the Surdna Foundation funding the East Bay Community Foundation to create a shared table, which will convene a network of community-driven agencies to strategize positive change.


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I edited Dr. Robert Morgan Lawrence's introduction to Polly: Sex Culture Revolutionary, Polly Whitaker's 2014 memoir.


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I contributed copyediting — tightening and honing the artist's statement — for Dionisio Ceballos's 2014 collection, Screens of Consciousness.


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In 2014, I edited the Loving Way Midwifery website.


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In the fall of 2013, I copyedited the Strong Families New Mexico Legislative Report Card.


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While working as a full-time proofreader/copy editor (2009–2015) for WestEd, I contributed both copyediting and proofreading to the R&D Alert.


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In January 2013, I copyedited the blog series Still Wading: Roe at 40, Forty years of resistance, resilience and reclamation in communities of color for Forward Together's Strong Families initiative. Following the lead of Samara Azam-Yu’s writing, I helped shape and tighten her blog piece, and it was picked up by Colorlines.


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In 2010 I was a regular contributor to Change.org's Race in America blog. After a restructuring at Change, this content was archived and is no longer available online. One of my posts was mentioned in The Atlantic Wire (scroll down to “Mixed Feelings”). The essay that helped get me the gig with Change was about the Obama Census controversy.


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Co-created with my dear friend, Claire Dixon,  I had an academic essay about creative writing and Hurricane Katrina published in The Oral History Review in 2008.


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In 2007, I wrote several times for the Baton Rouge Lagniappe, an online news and entertainment outlet. Many of my stories, including this piece, were about my work as a mentor with a youth poetry program called WordPlay.


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In 2005/2006, I was the fiction editor for the New Delta Review literary magazine, managing the editorial process of all fiction submissions, including final publication decisions.


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Known for Robert Penn Warren's commitment to demonstrate how "A problem in economics in the South could not be dissociated from the economic problems of the rest of the world, and a southern poet could not be considered without some awareness of the broad tradition of poetry and some awareness of the contemporary manifestations in, for example, France or England," The Southern Review stands apart from many Southern literary journals. I had the honor of working as an editorial assistant (2003–2004) there, combing through piles of incoming submissions for poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction gems. I also proofread the final galleys.


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As an editorial assistant (2002–2003) to the paperbacks editors at the University of Chicago Press, I gained experience with the publication process, communicating with artists and writers, and processing contracts.


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In 2003, I was one of the final proofreaders for my father's book, Portrait of America, published out of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Press.

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In 2016, I subbed in as a copy editor for AJ+ to help produce multiple videos.


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In the fall of 2015, I again had the honor of copyediting the Strong Families New Mexico Legislative Report Card.


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In the summer of 2015, I began a working relationship with the Women Donors Network, contributing blog pieces as a staff writer and editor to highlight the work of the WDN.


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In the summer of 2015, I contributed writing and developmental editing to a landscape report that surveyed all major areas of inequality (as identified by the Ford Foundation) impacting New Yorkers, including the organizations and movements that are transforming inequality and creating positive change, in order to help Ford meaningfully build on this important work.


In the spring of 2015, I was a lead content editor and writer for Zynga.org's new classroom game, Words With Friends EDU.

Words With Friends EDU Trailer from Zynga.org


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In 2014, I became a regular proofreader for Presente.org. On a weekly basis, I help polish emails and landing pages that are seen by thousands of Presente members.


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In the fall of 2014, I contributed developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading to the website of chiropractor and healer Dr. Cameron Quillian.


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In the spring of 2014, I contributed copywriting to the "about" and "cities" sections of Realtor Annalise Demuth's website, WineCountryInfusion.com.


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In the spring of 2013, I copyedited Strong Families' Mama's Day campaign blog series and contributed a piece of original writing myself.

The series published 43 blogs.

From May 2 to May 13, the Mama's Day blogs had over 21,000 views, averaging more than two thousand views a day.

Eleven of the pieces were placed externally on sites like Fly Over Feminism, Truthout, and RH Reality Check.

The blogs were shared hundreds of times on Twitter and Facebook.


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From 2009 through 2011, I co-created with my mother, Karen Hagrup, an anti-ableism project called Shaping Progress, in part to advertise Karen as a speaker and coach for fighting institutional ableism. I edited her signature essay, which was posted on the website. After my mother became a full-time Obama volunteer in 2011, the website was closed. I hope to archive some of the anti-ableism tools that were housed on that site on another platform soon so they can continue to be available to the world.


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I wrote several times for Sweet Tooth, a beautiful broadside advocating for the arts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My essay about greater connection between north and south—black and white—Baton Rouge was the lead story in the inaugural issue.


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In 2007 I edited and did the layout, design, and cover for a collection of teen poetry titled Right2Write for the East Baton Rouge Parish Library.


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From 2006 to 2008, I championed the sharing of publishing power with teens, serving as the Publications Manager for a teen poetry program called WordPlay. I managed the production schedule for and mentored the teen editorial board at 6 partner sites. A friend studying at Louisiana State University was one of my volunteer recruits, later writing her M.A. thesis about zine pedagogy. I also designed the WordPlay logo displayed here.


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I was a draft reader for Achy Obejas's book Ruins.


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While working as a research assistant for Dr. Joseph Williams, I was a reader for Williams and Colomb's essay selections for their book The Craft of Argument. I also compiled the index.


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I contributed research to Dr. Lynn (Martha) Rose's book  The Staff of Oedipus: Transforming Disability in Ancient Greece.


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In 1998/1999 I proofread Truman State University's Scholars of Early Modern Studies and was editorial support staff for The Sixteenth Century Journal.


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