Gina Jelinski (Clark) (Art BFA 07) shares, “Pozdrowienia! I am a Van Nuys native whose background is in horticulture and visual anthropology. I come from a lineage of Jewish acrobats and have spent the last decade handling private antiquarian libraries—simultaneously working in the field of video and behavioral analysis. You will find me in the garden photographing unusual plants and making illustrations of these species. I’m on the search for a career amidst the collapse of the system. I have volunteered for Children of the Night Trafficking Intervention, Theodore Payne Foundation, Hahamongna Nursery, and the CSSA. Most recently I have published nonfiction works for The Center for the Art of Translation. Previous teaching endeavors were held at Oakwood Secondary School, Modesto’s Center for Imagination, and Jefferson High School. My latest community-based project is Hey, Venus! Radio, a podcast that examines identity and imagination through the scope of literature, cinema, language, nature, and everything in between. It’s a sanctuary for linguists, phytophiles, and overthinkers. We anticipate to share with our listeners, encounters off-the-beaten paths and unapologetic perspectives, while illuminating observations of the human condition. We also curate a biannual magazine. Being that we launched our project a few weeks before the pandemic, our journey has been a difficult one. Despite these complications, we have had a warm response from those who have contributed to our project so far, and we look forward to sharing their voices with our audience. We have 12 episodes thus far and collaborated with 25 individuals within our program. We feel fortunate to have such a loving response from the communities we are building from; a unique group, as we showcase work by writers, archivists, painters, social historians, teachers, as well as artists and individuals from the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.” Website: heyvenus.com, IG: @ginajelinski