Rice Cooker Chronicles: Bios

Meredith Hodges-Boos (2003-2005 SHS ALT, Ehime-ken) and her husband Greg (2003-2005, JHS, Yoshida-cho) miss Japan.  This homesickness is one of her greatest impetuses to write.  She has completed eight novels, including two children’s books for her new daughter, Kyrie Alice.  Addicted to manga and anime for almost twenty years, she hides her otaku-ness well.  Yet her love of comics allowed her to connect with students both in Japan and back in America.  Sadly, the prinicials on both sides of the world lacked the necessary coolness to fully appreciate Inuyasha.  She is now editing her fictional novel about an assistant language teacher who secretly takes three troubled students into her home in Japan.

Clara Solomon is Director of Counseling & Career Development at the Office of Career Services at New York University School of Law, where she oversees career counseling and programming, and serves as the full-time career counselor for more than 350 international students. She has worked in the Office of Career Services  in a variety of capacities since 2003. Clara holds a Master’s Degree in International Education from the Steinhardt School of Education at NYU, with a focus on higher education administration and international student advising. She also received her B.A., magna cum laude, in East Asian Studies from NYU. Clara previously worked for the Japan External Trade Organization, specializing in trade relations between Japan and Latin America. On JET, she was a CIR in Nichinan-cho in Tottori-ken from 1999-2001. Clara now lives in Queens with her husband and cat.

Justin Tedaldi (Kobe-shi CIR, 2001-02) is the current editor of JQ, JETAA NY’s quarterly magazine. He has conducted exclusive interviews with Puffy AmiYumi, Naomi Moriyama, Hiromi, Chip Kidd, Jero and Hikaru Utada. Justin lives in Queens, enjoys writing, concerts and travel, and hopes to interview Cheap Trick one day.