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We Are Non-Profit.
Tales from a Small Planet's mission is to enrich and share the experience
of living abroad through literature, humor and the arts, as well as by
providing information and education on what it is really like to live
in a foreign country and how to cope with the challenges that may come
along. We are a 503(c)(3) registered non-profit organization. Pleae consider
making a donation to support our operations.
Our Staff
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 CEO:
Susan Shirley is a management consultant for nonprofit organizations
and USAID-funded programs. With an MBA from the University of Kentucky,
Susan began living and working overseas in Egypt in 1990. After 10
years working in a variety of private sector and business development
programs, she returned to the US, where she began a consulting
business. She raised funds for educational and arts organizations, and
was Acting Chairman of the Board for Friends of Brooklyn New School, an
educational fundraising organization. She continued to travel,
supporting programs in Egypt and Eritrea.
With her husband and two children (one toddler, one teen), Susan
has lived in Venezuela and El Salvador since they became a Foreign
Service family in 2004. She writes proposals and builds capacity in her
client organizations, which has sent her to Mozambique and Lebanon.
Susan has served on the Board of Directors for The American Embassy
Employee Association in Venezuela, and is working with two local
organizations in El Salvador to develop strategic and fundraising
plans. With her love for world travel and international employment,
Susan was very excited to accept the challenge of the CEO position at
Tales from a Small Planet. |
 Editor
in Chief: Patricia Linderman is co-author of The Expert Expat:
Your Guide to Successful Relocation Abroad (Nicholas Brealey Intercultural,
2nd edition 2007, see www.expatguide.info
), and co-editor of Realities of Foreign Service Life, Volumes 1 and
2 (AAFSW 2002 and 2007, see www.aafsw.org
). With her Foreign Service husband and two sons, she has lived in
Trinidad, Chile, Cuba, Germany, the U.S. and Ecuador, where she has
learned skills such as removing stray iguanas from the living room,
identifying Communist spies, and amusing small children on 10-hour
flights. She has an M.A. in German literature and also works as a
translator from Spanish and German into English. Contact her at editor@talesmag.com. |
Editor, Real Post Reports:
Terry Anderson has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry and did research and
engineering in the field of photonics for three decades. He now
accompanies his partner who is in the Foreign Commercial Service. They
have spent four years in Warsaw, Poland, three years in Mexico City,
and are now in Bratislava, Slovakia for four years. Terry maintains a
website (Global
Perspectives) with photos from their travels. He is also maintains websites for several other not-for-profit organizations. Contact him at terry@talesmag.com.
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 Contributing
Editor: Sarah Fogarty has lived in the Turks and Caicos Islands
since 1996. Her on-island careers have included managing the marina
and a land development company, but she is most proud of teaching
first aid through the Red Cross, learning to play soccer at the age
of 48 (a sport she has since abandoned after tragically tearing her
ACL) and having her pieces published in Skirt! Magazine, Tales From
a Small Planet and Family Life Abroad. She is in awe of people who
live in really foreign places that aren't a plane hop away from Miami. |
 Webmaster:
Mike Schwefler doesn't know anything about foreign lands and he couldn't
write his way out of a paper bag. His wife is a foreign service hot-shot,
though, and he's hoping it rubs off. Liz is currently on her 3rd
assignment to Halifax,
Nova Scotia and Mike and
their four kids are making the most of it. Mike, a former
Air Force officer, has worked as a developer
for Mitre, Wallstreetsports and Sandbox.com and is happy to help out Tales
From a Small Planet as webmaster. Contact him at mike@talesmag.com. |
Our Founders
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 Founding
Editor: Francesca Huemer Kelly is a professional free-lance writer,
published regularly in American and international magazines. In 1991
she and fellow Foreign Service spouse Fritz Galt launched a small
photocopied publication called the Spouses' Underground Newsletter
(SUN), which served as a forum and showcase for the talents of Foreign
Service spouses around the world. The publication grew, and in 1999
the SUN website was launched, followed by Tales from a Small Planet
in 2000, of which Ms. Kelly served as editor-in-chief until December
2003. She is still serving in an advisory capacity and as moderator
of the abroadview e-group. Ms. Kelly, who is also a trained concert
singer, has lived in Milan, Leningrad, Moscow, Belgrade,
Vienna, Ankara, Rome and Brussels, and is the mother of four children. Contact her at francesca@talesmag.com.
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Creative Consultant & Co-Founder: Fritz Galt is a writer
and editor who has worked in educational and technical publishing.
He has lived in Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
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Creator of the Online Real Post Reports: Victoria H. Hess is
a writer, editor, and website designer. Before her husband joined
the Foreign Service in 1988, Victoria practiced law and was a reporter
for a small daily newspaper. Since 1988, Victoria has borne two sons,
lived in Iraq, Germany, India, the U.S., Pakistan, and Zimbabwe, traveled
to dozens of other countries, and been involved in no less than four
evacuations. She presently lives in Wyoming. |
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