Stephen D. Gutierrez ("My Cross ....") is the author of Elements, which won the 1996 Nilon Excellence in Minority Fiction Award. He has published in many magazines, and he hopes to have a second collection out soon, in addition to a third book. Walter C. Ramirez is an ongoing project of his, a study into the soul of a man very much like himself, but not. Gutierrez has no hair on his chest, unless he's playing basketball, writing, or singing in the shower. He teaches at California State University, Hayward, in the English Department.

After graduating in English from CSU, Chico in 1981, Gutierrez went on to earn an M.F.A. from Cornell University in 1987. He presently teaches creative writing at CSU, Hayward. Elements, a collection of eight stories, two essays, and a long personal afterward, won the FC2 publication prize and has been called "a look into the soul of the Mexican American neither barrio born and raised nor suburban weaned and teased, but a working-class product of two cultures vast and conflicting."