About the Author

Margaret A. Rudt first thought of writing her memoir in 1994, when the Washington Post, Montgomery Journal and Rockville Gazette newspapers in Maryland interviewed her for articles about her experience as a student and teacher at the Mark Twain School.

Rudt was born Margaret Ann Waldron in Montgomery County, Maryland. She overcame a learning disability, dyslexia, to earn a BA in Studio Arts from the University of Maryland. She also earned Advanced Professional Teaching Certifications in Secondary School Art Education and Special Education.

Rudt is a teacher for the Montgomery County Public Schools, where she spent nine years teaching art to severely emotionally disturbed adolescents at the Mark Twain School in Rockville, Maryland.

She was an invited speaker at the 1994 Annual Convention of the National Art Education Association, where she presented information about teaching art to severely emotionally disturbed high school students.

Currently, she is the Staff Development Teacher at Colonel E. Brooke Lee Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland and is pursuing an MA in Education at Johns Hopkins University.

Rudt has practiced Siddha Yoga meditation since 1981. Area Zero is her first published book.

Read the First Pages of Area Zero