Born in 1819 in Long Island, New York, Walt Whitman was a poet, essayist, and journalist best known for Leaves of Grass (first published in 1855) and the poems "Song of Myself " and "I Sing the Body Electric." In the early years of the Civil War, Whitman traveled to Washington, D.C., to search for his brother,who was reported missing in action. Whitman stayed in Washington and volunteered as an aide in the hospitals, tending to sick and wounded soldiers. One of the first American poets to gain international attention, Whitman died in 1862 in Camden, New Jersey.

Gary David Comstock is the University Protestant Chaplain at Wesleyan University. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC) and received his PhD in social ethics from Union Theological Seminary. He has published several books, including Unrepentant, Practicing, Self-Affirming and Gay Theology without Apology. His pastoral and theological interests are building inclusive community, earth ethics, and spiritual development.