Galen A. Johnson is professor of philosophy at the University of Rhode Island and Director of the URI Center for the Humanities. He is also the General Secretary (Director) of the International Merleau-Ponty Circle. He is married to Jean M. Johnson, Executive Director of the House of Hope CDC, Warwick, RI, which is a provider of housing and services for the homeless. Together they have six children. In addition to writing and teaching Continental philosophy, Galen is an avid cabinetmaker and has recently combined these interests in an article for Environmental Philosophy (Volume IV, Fall, 2007) on "Philosophy and the Forest: Toward an Aesthetics of Wood." His current research also includes the writings of Emerson and Thoreau, and Walden Pond in Concord, MA is a favorite destination. He recently discovered that one of his favorite artists, Barnett Newman, spent his honeymoon in Concord and did a painting named for that town. His most recent book, The Retrieval of the Beautiful, provided the welcome premise for traveling and looking at great art all over Europe and the US. The Montmartre district of Paris, France is another favorite destination.