Eli Marienthal is a mutli-disciplinary artist, educator, and ceremonialist from Berkeley, CA. He is co-director of Back to Earth, a nature connection, culture building organization, where he offers wilderness-based rites of passage journeys for young men. His teaching philosophy emphasizes the radical potential of developing close personal relationships with the more-than-human world. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brown University in comparative literature and international development studies and is an “all but dissertation” Ph.D. candidate in the Geography Department at UC Berkeley. Eli is also a poet of the page and stage, a former Youth Speaks slam champion, national slam team member, and dramaturg for the New Works / World Traditions dance and theater company.