Paul Cummins
Paul Cummins was born in Chicago, Illinois, moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and then to Los Angeles, California. He attended Stanford University (BA, 1959), Harvard University (MAT, 1960), and the University of Southern California (PhD, 1967). He taught English at Harvard School and the Oakwood School in California, as well as at UCLA. In 1970, he became the headmaster of St. Augustine’s Elementary School in Santa Monica and the founder and headmaster of the Crossroads School. He is currently the executive director of the New Visions Foundation. Cummins is the author of Herbert Zipper’s biography, Dachau Song: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper (Peter Lang 1992), For Mortal Stakes: Solutions for Schools and Society (Peter Lang 1998), and Keeping Watch: Reflections On American Culture, Education and Politics (Firstbooks Library 2002). His collection of poetry is A Postcard from Bali (Argonne Press 2002), and additional work can be found in journals such as the New Republic, Poetry LA, Whole Notes, Wild Bamboo Press, Bad Haircut Quarterly, Wordwrights and Slant. He serves on the board of trustees of the American Poetry Review, Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, ExEd, the Sam Francis Foundation, the Gabriella AxeIrad Foundation, New Roads School and the New Visions Foundation. He and his wife Mary Ann live in Santa Monica, California. They have four daughters.