Former California state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, sponsored legislation – vetoed Sept. 6, 2006, by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – that would have prohibited in public schools teaching or instructional materials that discriminate against people based on sexual orientation.

Jane Iwamura is the chair of the religious studies program at the University of the West in Rosemead, Calif. She specializes in Asian-American religions, race and popular culture. She co-edited Revealing the Sacred in Asian & Pacific America.

Carolyn Chen is an associate professor in the ethnic studies department at the University of California, Berkeley, whose research interests include religion, ethnicity, immigration and sociology of work.

Paul Martin Lester is professor of communications at California State University-Fullerton. See a 1993 essay he published in Visual Anthropology about why Columbus should not be honored.

The Indigenous Peoples Day Committee is based in Berkeley, Calif. Contact committee coordinator Rochelle Hays.

Daniel Sumner directs the University of California Agricultural Issues Center in Davis, Calif.

Mechel “Mickey” Paggi directs the Center for Agricultural Business at California State University, Fresno.

Michael Pollan is Knight Professor of Journalism at University of California, Berkeley, where he directs the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism. His books include The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Read an Oct. 9, 2008, column on farm policy that he wrote for The New York Times.

Jennifer Maiser edits the group blog EatLocalChallenge.com.