Erin Aubry Kaplan is an journalist and author who has been writing about race, politics, culture and identity since 1992. She contributes regularly to the opinion pages of the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, and in 2007 became the first African American weekly opinion columnist in the paper’s history. In addition to teaching literature and writing for Bridge, she has taught in Antioch’s MFA writing program (creative nonfiction). She is the author of two books, “Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, and Walking the Color Line: Dispatches From a Black Journalista,” and “I Heart Obama.” She lives in Inglewood with several dogs and two cats.