Brynne Barnes grew up in a house full of books and cut her literary teeth on the likes of Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes and Kahlil Gibran. But it was in the magical, illustrated world of children’s literature that she has found her true calling.

“I was in college working on a project with other students, bringing meaningful literary experiences to kids in Detroit’s inner-city and I started thinking, I want to be a children’s books author,” relates Barnes.

It would be a few years and more than a little self doubt before Barnes would see her dream bound and printed for others to enjoy. And when that happened, she says, “I cried.”

Her first illustrated children’s book, Colors of Me ,was published by Sleeping Bear Press in 2011 and earned her a Friends of America Writers Award for Juvenile Literature. Her second book, Books Do Not Have Wings, was released late last year by Sleeping Bear.

“My professors at Eastern Michigan (where she earned a master’s degree in creative writing) shared their writing journeys with me and told me to hang in there and keep trying,” says Barnes. “And somehow, I started to feel deep down that it was going to happen.”

Before it did, however, Barnes began teaching, starting at Adrian College before joining Macomb’s English faculty five years ago. At Macomb, she teaches college composition, children’s literature and developmental writing and tries to impart to her students the same encouragement she received.

“Some of my students are not fans of writing and I like to be that positive exposure for them and help them find their own voice,” says Barnes. “Because I love writing so much, I love to share that with students.”

And if her students were to read only one book, which one might she recommend?

“The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran,” says Barnes. “I loved it. It was magical, and made me want to make people feel that way with my own writing.”

Jessica Sitek has witnessed Christian preparations for Easter in Spain, spoke with survivors of the Kurdish genocide during a five-month stay in Iraq, conducted a field study of how Islam interacts with other religions in Malaysia and observed Hinduism first-hand in India. But while uniquely qualified to teach Macomb’s existing courses in comparative religions, the third-year instructor is currently developing a new one that explores the connection between food and religion.

“Food as storytelling is something that greatly interests me,” says Sitek, who grew up in Macomb by way of Hamtramck, where her grandparents first settled after emigrating from Poland. “I really enjoy producing my own sauerkraut and collecting the family’s honey harvest.”

In developing the new course, Sitek enlisted her students in the creation of a recent library exhibit: Food and Religion: The Ethical and Spiritual Dimension of Eating. It was also part of her focus while a member of the first class of the KAICIID International Fellows Programme, an intergovernmental peacebuilding organization sponsored by the Republic of Austria, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Spain and the Holy See.

“My first challenge,” she says, “was confronting my place of privilege.”

Sitek holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Philosophy from Central Michigan University and a Master’s Degree in Religious Studies from Temple University in Philadelphia. With a recommendation from Philadelphia’s Dialogue Institute, where she worked, Sitek was selected to join 20 educators from 16 countries for the year-long KAICIID program. There were visits to the organization’s headquarters in Vienna and to several other countries, all designed, says Sitek, “to put a face on theology.”

In addition to sharing insight gained from the prestigious fellowship, field trips are also an important part of Sitek’s courses, including those to the Detroit Zen Center, Temple Beth El and Islamic Center in Dearborn. The trips are not mandatory, but many of her students choose to take part anyway.

“My students are all very respectful and inquisitive,” says Sitek. “They really appreciate learning about other cultures.”