Cynthia Rossi

Cynthia Rossi is a biologist, cartographer, mother, explorer, and life-long learner following her passion for writing as a student in Bay Path University’s Master of Fine Arts Creative Nonfiction Program. As a cartographer working for a consortium of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest, she tells stories through maps that facilitate education through science, data, and oral histories. She hails from Virginia but has lived and worked in Africa, Central America, and various places in the United States. She currently lives in Poulsbo, WA, with her family and their 45-year-old turtle, which has been her home for the last 15 years. Cynthia has been published in Wilderness House Literary Review and the Wingless Dreamer.

Juju

I squeeze past a bedraggled goat and other passengers as I snag a stained seat by the window. My foot gently scooches a live chicken to the side while I stuff my belongings below me on the floor. The scented mixture of sweat and damp livestock permeates the air. Outside the bus window where I sit in Nchelenge, young boys shout at riders to buy food. I open a book, attempting to tune out all the chaos around me.
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