Associate Editor (1970-2014)

Elizabeth Palmberg is the daughter of one science fiction fan and one Presbyterian elder who is federally licensed to dispense medicinal marijuana (although she would like to point out that he, a glaucoma specialist, only prescribes it in the less than .1% of cases in which it works better than eyedrops). She grew up in St. Louis, MO and Miami, FL, with an older and younger sister, both of whom have waist-length hair.

Her long history of meddling with other people's writing began in her first weeks of college; she escalated from editing the papers of hapless friends to editing (as a tutor) the papers of people she didn't even know. Eventually, she went on to doctoral work in English at Cornell University, where the unsuspecting administration allowed her to teach a first-year writing seminar on "Scary Stories of the Nineteenth Century." While at Cornell, she dwelt in Flapdragon House, whose denizens enticed her into the shadowy underworld that is Lindy Hop. After seven years of "gradual school," she gained three letters to add to her name, and went off to teach for a year each at Kenyon College and Scripps College.

Although Victorian British literature is interesting, it turns out that social justice (particularly relating to economic globalization) is even more interesting. Ways in which people imagine economics kept winding their way into all her courses, including "Love Stories of the Nineteenth Century" and "The Clichés From Space: Gender and Science Fiction." In 2002, the Lord smote her upside of the head and instructed her to go seek a career working for a progressive Christian nonprofit.

She's found a home at Sojourners, first as an intern ("editorial assistant"), and now as an assistant editor. She's enthusiastic about (in descending order) Jesus, Sojourners' switch to monthly publication, and bittersweet chocolate.

Elizabeth Palmberg died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Washington, D.C., on the morning of June 23, 2014. Per her wishes, memorial donations in her name may be made to any of the following: Christ House (1717 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009); St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church (1525 Newton Street NW, Washington, DC 20010); Sojourners Internship Program (PO Box 70730, Washington, DC 20024-0730) .

Posts By This Author

Four Questions for Sylvie Mbanga Maunga

by Elizabeth Palmberg 07-01-2010
  1. How did you begin your work as a lawyer and activist? I think it was my vocation. In my own life, my parents said sometimes, “Women can’t do that, and men can.” I answered all the time, “Why do you think that women can’t do that?” When I got the opportunity to begin work as a lawyer, I was focusing on women’s law. In Congo, the culture said women couldn’t inherit land. We have a great law—but the implementation, that is the problem. I began assisting women pro bono in the east, in Goma.

I'm a Mac, and I'm Helping Fuel War in the Congo

by Elizabeth Palmberg 06-29-2010

Fixing a Key Financial Reform Loophole

by Elizabeth Palmberg 05-24-2010
When is a law not a (real) law? When there's zero penalty for breaking it.

Regulating Wall Street's House-of-Cards Casino

by Elizabeth Palmberg 04-27-2010

Last month, the Guinness World Records folks certified American Bryan Berg as building the world's largest house of cards, a replica of a hotel and casino in Macau.

Khartoum's Continued Insults to Sudan's Many Injuries

by Elizabeth Palmberg 04-23-2010
Activists are calling Sudan's recent elections "rigged" and demanding that the results not be mislabeled legitimate.

Tea Party Protests and Taxation Without Representation

by Elizabeth Palmberg 04-09-2010

Well, it looks like some folks are coming to the District of Columbia this April 15 to protest under the "tea party" banner.

'God Will Not Hear You': Death Threat to a Colombian Pastor

by Elizabeth Palmberg 03-29-2010
"God will not hear you," the death thre

Green Your Church

by Elizabeth Palmberg 03-01-2010

The award-winning environmental ministry of Haygood United Methodist Church in Atlanta got started in 2007, when the climate gave congregant and stay-at-home mom Willa Paton-Smith a wake-up call.

Green Jobs and the Pink-Collar Ghetto

by Elizabeth Palmberg 02-24-2010
A new report this week tells us that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka the stimulus bill), now a year old, so far is responsible for saving or creating roughly http://www.was

Joseph Stack's Suicidal Terrorism: The Definition of Insanity

by Elizabeth Palmberg 02-19-2010
I had thought we'd all agreed that flying airplanes into buildings full of office workers was not a legitimate form of protest, but the Wall Street Journal's http://online.wsj.com

Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil

by Elizabeth Palmberg 02-01-2010

Give the global-South anti-corruption activist a fighting chance.

Five Questions for Rev. Efrem Smith

by Elizabeth Palmberg 02-01-2010

Bio: Author of The Hip-Hop Church; Senior pastor of

Extended Interview with Efrem Smith

by Elizabeth Palmberg 02-01-2010

Efrem Smith

A Two Step Program for Reforming Wall Street's Gambling Addicts

by Elizabeth Palmberg 01-29-2010

Breaking the 'Resource Curse'

by Elizabeth Palmberg 01-20-2010
The Enough Project's recent report about conflict minerals in Congo highlights how the "resource curse" (as desc

The Devil's Reparations for Haiti's Debt?

by Elizabeth Palmberg 01-15-2010
So Pat Robertson, to whom the media are still inexplicably willing to pay attention, is saying that Haiti is being punished for an alleged pact with the devil?

An Indigenous Ecuadorian Christian Activist Takes on Big Oil

by Elizabeth Palmberg 12-30-2009
Earlier this year, Luis Yanza, who is featured in the documentary Crude, sat down with Sojourners assistant editor Elizabeth Palmberg to tal

Cap-and-Trade's Bubble Trouble

by Elizabeth Palmberg 12-16-2009

Nigerian Anti-Corruption Activists Demand: Let the Sun Shine in

by Elizabeth Palmberg 12-14-2009
Part 2 of an interview with David Ugolor, head of the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice.

Halliburton and the 'Resource Curse'

by Elizabeth Palmberg 12-11-2009
Part I of an interview with David Ugolor, head of the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice.