THE BALLAD OF THE EARTHWORM

University of North Carolina

Is soil the memory of the land? If I suckle my way through this disheveled earthen compound will it remember I was here? Is anything I do worth quantifying? All day and night, I squish and glug around, swimming through unruly sediment, wriggling till my back aches, wondering what my job is. I need to stop complaining. I need to zip up my turtleneck and get on with the cold, because whining won’t make the rain come. Sitting still won’t bring the spring. I will tell myself false positivity. The dirt, my nectar, a crumbly cake in which I bathe my haggard body. Day in, and out, weaving around the same fleshy bulbs. Sweet, fertile soil waiting for me, intestines of the earth. Five hearts all beating in tandem, for one mission: To provide, to survive, to live upon. I work for a sun that does not rise for me, and sleep under an ignorant moon. I dig under a mother reluctant to reward me for my work. Will I ever hear love back? Will spring return, gilded Persephone in tow? Part of me hopes so. Until then I’ll be here watching, digging,

choking on nothing there but wasted air and dirt too dense to hold memory of me. Swoon, Mother Lovely, see what I do for you.

Sofía Aguilar is a Latina writer, poet, and fourth-year student at Sarah Lawrence College and originally from Los Angeles. Most recently, her work has appeared in The Sarah Lawrence Review, Melanin Magazine, Beyond Words International Literary Magazine, and The Westchester Review, among other publications. She has received the 2018 Nancy Lynn Schwartz Prize for Fiction and is a three-time recipient of the Jean Goldschmidt Kempton Scholarship for Young Writers for her outstanding contributions to her college community. You may visit her at www.sofiaaguilar. com.

Tahani Almujahid is a Yemeni-American writer from Dearborn, Michigan. She is an undergraduate studying English and international studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She currently works with Michigan Quarterly Review as an editorial and marketing assistant. She has written for the Michigan Journal of International Affairs, Michigan Daily, Writer to Writer, Spellbinder, and is forthcoming in other journals. She focuses her writing on her experiences, language, family history, identity, love, and loss. In her free time, you can find Tahani editing her friends’ essays (and reading a good book)!

Hadia Bakkar is a recent graduate of Skidmore College. With a passion for storytelling, Bakkar is interested in the intersection of politics, literature, and media production. Her work is deeply inspired by her experiences as a Syrian woman living in the United States. Bakkar hopes to pursue a future career in journalism, be it print or radio broadcasting.

Connor Beeman is a senior at Ohio University studying creative writing and women, gender, and sexuality studies. With a focus in poetry, his work currently centers on the deeply interwoven connections of place, deindustrialization, and queerness within his home state of Ohio, hometown of Akron, and the greater Rust Belt. He hopes his work can bring attention to the too-often sidelined queer people of the Rust Belt and Midwest. Previous publications include Polaris, Mangrove, and Ohio University’s own Sphere.

Holly Bergman is a student at Salisbury University in the creative writing

program. She is the nonfiction genre editor for Salisbury’s literary magazine The Scarab. She writes a combination of both poetry and creative nonfiction and is an open book when writing about weird details of her life.

Tamara Blair is currently a first-year student enrolled at Eastern Michigan University. She is studying for a degree in marketing and may potentially minor in literature or creative writing. In the future, she hopes to someday join the book publishing industry. Writing is one of her greatest passions.

Jacob Bloom is a sophomore at Willamette University where he studies computer science and English. He was born in San Francisco and grew up in Marin County, California. In his free time, he enjoys reading, cracking jokes, spending time with his family, playing basketball, and eating.

Anna Bronson is a senior BFA Creative Writing student at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Originally from a small town outside of Flint, Michigan, Anna has faith in the power of big changes and big chances. A lover of pasta, romantic movies, and alternative rock, Anna believes that the most interesting thing about any person is the depth of their heart. One day, she hopes to share her stories with the world.

Madison Brown is a senior English major at Augusta University. She spends her free time writing poetry, both formal and free verse. She has presented her work at several events, including the Westobou Arts Festival in Augusta, Georgia. She has been published in Yell! Women’s and Genders Studies Magazine and Sandhills.

Kathryn Cambrea is a student studying communications and creative writing at St. Thomas Aquinas College. She has a passion for writing and would love to share her pieces, both journalistic and creative, with the world. Kathryn has experience working in print and digital media as well as radio. She especially loves to write poetry and creative nonfiction pieces that tend to focus on love, family, female strength, and her heritage.

Angelina Chartrand is an undergraduate at Lindenwood University pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English Studies with an emphasis in creative writing. She is a writer interested in short stories that delve into surrealistic and abstract concepts. Her approach to writing has always been an exploration of complicated ideas that are grounded in reality. She considers herself an avid storyteller and reader.

Cara Clements is a graphic designer, illustrator, and art director currently pursuing dual degrees in media studies (concentration in media making) and integrated visual arts (concentration in graphic design) from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. For years, Cara used illustration and graphic design as an outlet for

stress-relief and relaxation, but earlier this year, she decided to start expanding her reach and sharing her work with the world via her small business, Cara Mak Design. She specializes in logo design, branding, website design, editorial design for magazines, type and image-led graphic design, art direction, and illustration. Cara is also available for design and art direction freelance projects, collaborations, and illustration commissions. To get in touch or to view more of her work, visit www. CaraMak.com or follow Cara Mak Design on Instagram: @CaraMakDesign.

Chloe Cook is an undergraduate student attending Northern Kentucky University. She serves as Editor-in-Chief for the student-run creative magazine, Loch Norse Magazine, and works on the editorial board for the literary journal, Pentangle. Her work can be found in Tule Review, Haunted Waters Press, and her debut chapbook is forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press in fall 2021. She currently resides in the NKY region.

Ella Corder is a creative writing senior at Western Kentucky University. She is from Somerset, Kentucky. For the foreseeable future, she plans to eat, sleep, and breathe the medical school entrance exam to become a doctor. She would like to practice in Senegal, Guinea, and Francophone Africa.

Madison Culpepper is a junior at Central Connecticut State University and is 21 years old. She studied creative writing at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and now studies Psychology with a minor in writing. She won two silver keys and one gold key in the Scholastic Writing Awards, is published by Long Shot Books, and hopes to publish a poetry book someday.

Amberly Day is a student at Ball State university in Indiana. She studies history and creative writing, and hopes to someday publish young adult novels. She focuses heavily on diversity, especially LGBT+ representation, a community she is part of. Her poem, “Sickness,” draws from the real-life inspiration of her friend Daniel, who contracted COVID-19.

Sean DeSautelle is a senior in the Literary Studies program at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester. Upon graduation, he plans to continue working on his craft with hopes of attending a MFA Creative Writing Program in the near future. Besides writing he enjoys visiting museums, good coffee, and vegetarian cuisine. His work has appeared in 30-N, Pages and The Merrimack Review.

Emily Dexter is a sophomore at Indiana Wesleyan University. She is majoring in English and writing, and enjoys dabbling in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. She serves as a co-editor of her campus’s literary magazine, The Caesura, and works as a tutor in her campus’s writing center.

Victoria Gong has always dreamed of having a platform large enough to put on a one-person reading/performance of the Bee Movie. She’s currently a sophomore at Harvard University, but one day she’ll step in a puddle. If asked to choose between eating a carrot and hibernating through winter, she’ll most definitely tell you the reasons she tried journalism and ended up despising it. Green is her favorite color.

Audree Grand’Pierre is a senior at Bowdoin College. She will be graduating with two bachelor’s degrees in psychology and visual arts and a minor in anthropology. She has always had a love for drawing and painting, as she started taking art classes at four years old. Her studies led her to travel to Florence, Italy to deepen her understanding of art history and improve her skills in studio art. Her passion for both art and the human psyche is why she loves focusing on narrative pieces that work to depict raw human experiences. Specifically, her paintings highlight the experiences and perspectives of Black individuals in order to create a space for these experiences to be shared.

Abby Green is an artist who loves illustrating humorous, whimsical, surreal, and satirical environments and/or interactions. In order to make more multidimensional art, she will occasionally create more technical art as practice. Exploring textures and color are vital techniques executed in her art. Currently, she is finishing her senior year at the University of Kentucky, majoring in graphic design and digital media.

Shira Haus is a sophomore at Allegheny College with a major in English and a double minor in Spanish and political science. Along with writing poems, she also loves to bake bread and ride her bike. She writes mostly about the complications of womanhood, her home in Michigan, and living in the woods.

Alexis Hawthorne is an upcoming senior at The University of Alabama majoring in art with a concentration in digital media. Her work is made primarily with digital media and focuses on narrative and design. The format of her pieces range from still-image illustrations to short-form animations. She has always been fascinated with cartoons and video games and how they go about conveying their stories, so she is heavily influenced by them and uses them to drive her work. With this drive, she hopes to pursue a career in concept art or illustration.

Anthony Herring attends Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana as both an English student and a student of the Ball State Honors College (currently in his junior year). To coincide with his English major, he has two minors: film/screenwriting and professional writing/emerging media. Within the English program, he has taken many classes that have helped to improve his writing skills. Said skills have proven beneficial in his endeavors, particularly as a member of Byte BSU, an entertainment journalism organization at his university. Anthony contributes to Byte as a reviewer, having produced over a dozen reviews across movies, video games, and TV shows.

Arianna Jackson is an emerging artist born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, with a focus in oil painting. Her interests in subject matter range from finding the beauty in her fears and putting them on a canvas, to exploring the world and nature around her through art. She is currently an undergrad student at Wayne State University, studying both Psychology and Art. And hopes to one day expand her abilities, by diving into the world of animation.

Annabella Johnson is a writer from Saint Louis, Missouri. She is currently enrolled in the creative writing undergraduate program of Webster University, and has been previously published in the school’s literary magazine, The Green Fuse. She is part of the LGBT community, identifying as bisexual and nonbinary (he/she/ they.) She enjoys tea, books, and relative quiet, even at the best of times.

Quinn Carver Johnson is a senior at Hendrix College, pursuing degrees in creative writing and performance studies. Johnson was an editorial intern at Sundress Publications, a volunteer for the 2019 VIDA Count, and currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the Aonian. Johnson’s work has appeared in Rappahannock Review, Right Hand Pointing, Flint Hills Review, and elsewhere.

Makenzie Jones is an avid reader who first discovered her love for writing in middle school when attempting to recreate a long-lost and beloved book series from memory. Although she was lured away by other passions for a time, she rediscovered a deeper passion for writing while taking an entry-level college English class... for the third time! Despite being already three years in, she promptly changed her major to creative writing through which she pursues all of her passions: from fantasy to social justice pieces. She was honored to be an editor for the Oakland Arts Review last year, and equally honored to be included as a contributor in it this year. In her free time, she enjoys obsessing over horses, video games, well-written cinema, and serving in two incredible foster care ministries: Royal Family Kids and Teen Reach Adventure Camp.

a. a. khaliq is a current English and psychology student and future medical student at the University of Kansas. When she’s not giving herself a manicure or puzzling out a poetic line break, she’s probably on Twitter, passing the time while her baked good du jour is in the oven.

Kimberly Kosinski is an undergrad English major at Bradley University. She likes Cran-Grape juice and often drinks too much of it while writing poetry.

Carlee Landis is a graduating senior of Prescott College, where she is majoring in writing and literature with an emphasis in folklore. An aspiring storyteller and librarian, she is a lover of all things magical, folkloric, and water-related. She is off now to chase long-held dreams somewhere far from the desert, preferably some-

where the seasons have colors. When Carlee isn’t writing, reading, or daydreaming, she can usually be found trying to finish half-completed craft projects, horseback riding, dancing, or pestering her very tolerant cat, Bagheera. This is her first piece selected for publication.

Born and raised in Arizona, Isabel Lanzetta is a student of English and creative writing at Colorado College. A poet by nature, Isabel Lanzetta’s work has appeared in Convergence: Best Teen Writers of Arizona, The Telepoem Booth, and Curios Magazine. She has been reintroduced to the art of fiction writing in the past year. “WORMS” is one of her most recent short stories.

Callan Latham attends the University of Iowa. Her work has been published in places such as Electric Moon Magazine, Leopardskin & Limes, and The Knight’s Library Magazine. She is the author of the chapbook, Blue Salt (Iowa Chapbook Prize, 2020), and is currently a writing editor at Fools Magazine, as well as Melted Butter Magazine.

Samuel Lawson will be graduating from the Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville with a BFA in 2D studio in the fall of 2021. Currently he is researching MFA programs in printmaking and/or visual arts at graduate schools where he can not only further his own artist abilities, but also can help advance their program as well through a teaching assistantship. His body of work can be seen on Instagram @samuellawsonprintsandfineart or viewed and purchased at The Gallery on The Square in Bardstown, Kentucky.

Rebecca Lazansky is a senior writing major at the University of Tampa. Their work—comfortably seated in between the worlds of fiction and nonfiction—usually explores the complexities of their life, whether that be home, mental illness, memories, or self-love. In their free time, Beck enjoys doodling, swimming in the ocean, collecting oddities, and dreaming, as well as learning the five-string banjo (slowly, but very, very surely).

Li likes singing and eggs cooked in any style. She is grateful to her mentor, Jacob Alpert, for editing this piece. Follow her on twitter: @mashmall0w515.

Arin Lohr is a creative writing + publishing and editing double major at Susquehanna University and a first-gen college student. They are a proud part of the queer community (bi, trans, and nonbinary) and enjoy writing poetry about their relationship with gender and sexuality while also highlighting injustices and discrimination directed towards LGBTQ+ people. Their work touches on a broad spectrum of topics ranging from trauma, to self-identity, to love, to empowerment, and they hope that their poetry can touch people with the same strength of emotion that they feel while writing it.

Sijia Ma (b.2001 in Shenyang China), is currently pursuing a BA in studio arts and quantitative economics at Smith College. She also studied graphic design at Yale University and is now studying photography at Amherst College. Sijia works in the medium of photography, performance, and graphic design. Her works have been exhibited at the International Center of Photography in New York, Janotta Gallery in Northampton, and Loosen Art Gallery in Rome. She is also the co-founder of One Centimeter Gallery.

Elizabeth Mercado is a fourth-year English major at the University of California, Davis. Her work has been published in The California Aggie and Open Ceilings. Elizabeth draws inspiration from relationships—be they romantic, familial, or friendships—and views them as “either fortunate or very unfortunate collisions.” She is currently pursuing a career in screenwriting.

Josephine Newman attends Temple University, Tyler School of Art and Architecture. She is 19 years old and has been creating art for about 14 years. To see more of her art, check out her Instagram @josieenewart! She strives to one day become an art teacher and teach kids to express themselves through art as well as the importance of art within history.

Julia Norman is a senior dance major at George Mason University. She is from Boston, Massachusetts where she grew up attending various dance programs before applying to college. For the past two years of school, she has been focusing on a concentration in poetry writing. She appreciates exploring the crossover between poetry and choreography and feels inspired to use the tools she’s learned to influence both forms. Over the past four years, she has learned that curiousness in multiple forms of expression can inform and celebrate the inner workings of the mind. Outside of dance she enjoys reading, journaling, cooking, and exploring nature.

Clare O’Gara is an undergraduate at Smith College studying English, poetry, and film and media. She is the former editorial intern for Orion nature magazine and received an Honorable Mention for the Smith College Ruth Forbes Eliot Poetry Prize. Clare splits her time between Oregon and Massachusetts.

Zachary Parr is a sophomore graphic design student interested in experimental forms of photography and media. He became entranced by scanography in his intro to photography class and has loved it ever since. He is a first-generation student who comes from a small town in Kansas. This is his first published piece.

Danny Paulk is a senior at Centenary College of Louisiana. Their writing focuses primarily on gender, family relationships, the South, and apocalypse (broadly interpreted). Danny is currently in the process of applying to MFA programs in creative

writing.

Rachel Peavler is studying art at Northern Kentucky University and dreams of becoming an illustrator, cartoonist, and good person. During precious hours of free time, Rachel doodles Greek gods, draws comics to express the unpleasant feelings that come with being a twenty-something artist, and drinks a lot of tea. You can find more of Rachel’s work on Instagram @peavsart.

Grace Penry is currently a senior majoring in creative writing and anthropology at the University of Arizona. She loves poetry because every word receives the attention that is unique to the genre, which also makes it a more thoughtful writing process. She would like to dedicate “Fairytale” to her Aunt Beth and (late) Uncle Tom, both of whom she loves very much. Overall, it thrills her to be able to contribute to this review, and she hopes her poems are enjoyed by all.

Caroline Poole is an English and creative writing major and history minor at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She hopes to pursue a career in publishing post-graduation and publish more of her own works in the future. She loves the paranormal, folk music, Walt Whitman, and bears (which she should since she lives in Appalachia). She wants to thank the editors for considering her poetry for the Oakland Arts Review.

Anna Raelyn is a native Michigander attending Florida State University. She studies creative writing and media communications, as her two passions are writing and people. When she’s not writing, she can be found hiking with her naughty dog, Monella, or binge-watching The Great British Baking Show.

Selah Randolph is an unassuming undergraduate student, an eclectic climber, a great lover of sweaters and of trees, an abuser of commas, and an amateur writer. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, she can often be found roaming around the city writing awful poetry and jumping into rivers. Above all, however, she is in love with Jesus Christ and, through him, in love with the rest of the world.

Matt Rogers is a third-year English major at UC Davis and he will be graduating in the spring of 2021. He was born and raised in Long Beach, California. He fell in love with poetry in an undergraduate workshop in the fall of 2019 and has been writing ever since. “Expiring Yogurt: 4 for $.97” is his first published work.

Meg Rouse is a junior majoring in illustration and minoring in both creative writing and entrepreneurship at Seattle Pacific University. She is fascinated by the relationship between words and images and how the two forms of narrative communication can be blended together in new ways. For her work she pulls inspiration largely from Brian Selznick’s The Marvels, and The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

A growing interest in graphic novels and storytelling that has bloomed in the past few years led to the creation of her piece “Night Owls,” which is an experimental attempt to blur the lines between the traditional novel and graphic novel forms.

Emalyn Remington attends the University of Maine at Farmington where she is a double major in theatre and creative writing. Although she is currently a remote student, Emalyn is the co-editor of The River and secretary of Student Theatre UMF. She would like to dedicate this piece to her father, Robert Thomas John Peacock, who passed away in March of 2020.

Arjun Saatia is an Arkansas-based graphic designer and illustrator. He is a senior at the University of Central Arkansas studying to obtain a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art with an emphasis in graphic design. He primarily works with Adobe Illustrator, but he also often incorporates his own photography and drawings into his work. Often, he cites the work of Joan Cornellà, Paula Scher, and Piet Mondrian as inspirations.

Jesse Saldivar is a freshman at the University of California, Davis. Writing in general has always been Jesse’s passion, but writing poetry makes him feel more connected to others. He wrote “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” shortly after watching the 1978 film of the same name.

Ella Schmidt studies English at Bowdoin College, where she is currently a junior. In 2019, Ella received the The Academy of American Poets Colette Inez Poetry Prize. Her work has previously appeared in the Alexandria Quarterly and is forthcoming in the Notre Dame Review. She is from Saint Louis.

Shreeya Shrestha is a writer currently studying under the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Born and raised in Nepal, she now lives in Boulder, Colorado. Her current musing is exploring and writing from the space she calls the middle gaia, which is the intersecting space that connects her two lives: home and present.

Laila Smith was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She is interested in suspense writing, and is influenced by famous writers of the genre like Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Occasionally, she has been known to write about more serious topics like death or fire, but doesn’t think that the topics are her only limits. Laila is a second year at Warren Wilson College, and is studying Creative Writing and Art. She hopes to go into a career in journalism and/or professional editing in the future

Emily Tsai is a senior at the University of Maryland. She was born in the year of the rabbit. Besides reading and writing, she likes to draw and take walks. Her piece “The Piebald” was inspired by the piebald fawn which can occasionally be seen

roaming through her neighbourhood. You can find her at dragonfrewt.neocities. org.

Sydney Vincent is currently a sophomore at Susquehanna University, studying Publishing & Editing and Creative Writing with a minor in International Studies. In her free time, she enjoys spending her days outside hiking, reading, kayaking, pondering philosophical, religious ideas, and rock climbing in the Pocono Mountains, which she calls home. She hopes to open her own independent bookstore or press one day, hike the El Camino in its entirety before she turns thirty, and move to Colorado with her crazy cat, Shelby.

Cameron Wasinger is a student at Kansas State University. He just recently found interest in painting. “Brazen Bison” was painted as a gift for his father who shares a love for the outdoors and the creatures that inhabit it. This majestic beast was created with acrylic paint and lots of time!

From Pennsylvania, Andrew Weller retells personal experience through his lyric-narrative poetry. Oftentimes, Andrew writes poems as a means of processing the world around him. He is a student of English at The Pennsylvania State University, where he has received the Cranage and Mihelcic Awards in Poetry. Beyond his classes and poems, Andrew works as a technical writer and teaches composition.

Julia Weilant is a sophomore at Oakland University, majoring in creative writing and minoring in Mandarin. When she’s not writing, Julia is recreating movie ballgowns and finding ways to keep her cats off her work table. This is her first published piece, and she would like to thank Professor Susan McCarty for pushing her to submit this piece for publication. She also hopes her parents don’t kill her for what she wrote.

Tessa Woody is an enthusiastic visual communication design major, and creative writing minor, at Northern Kentucky University. She works at one of the oldest independent bookstores in the nation, Blue Marble Books. When not doing work for school or her employer, she works as the art editor for Loch Norse Literary Magazine. She was a poet and fiction writer who never thought she could write creative nonfiction, but her professor, Jessica Hindman, inspired her to prove herself wrong.

Beatrix Zwolfer is a junior studying English at Montana State University. Though she enjoys all types of creative writing, she has a soft spot for short stories and brief narrative essays. In her free time, she enjoys writing, caring for her succulents, playing board games, and reading. To her, there’s nothing better than a warm mug of herbal tea and a good book.

Jaclyn Tockstein, Managing Editor & Nonfiction Editor, is a senior at Oakland University majoring in professional and digital writing. She hopes to one day work for a publishing house as an editor. In the meantime, she has been working as the assistant facilitator for the Meadow Brook Writing Project since 2018. It was there, while wandering about the grounds of the grand estate, that she found her voice as a writer. Now, she does everything in her will to inspire young writers to find their voices as well.

Caitlyn Ulery, Managing Editor is pursuing a master’s degree in liberal studies at Oakland University, having earned her bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing with a poetry concentration from OU as well. She hopes to eventually earn her doctorate in writing and rhetoric, intending to become a writing professor or a writing center director. Currently, she works as a graduate consultant in the Oakland University Writing Center, in addition to managing the Swallow the Moon student journal. When she is not focused on her passion for writing and literature, she can be found hiking or lounging with her two cats.

Kat Zuzow, Managing Editor is a senior at Oakland University, and plans to graduate Spring 2021. They’re majoring in creative writing with hopes to become an editor, or an author. In their free time, they can be seen playing video games, reading, or taking a nap.

Maddie Eiler, Graphic Arts Editor is a senior at Oakland University who is pursuing a Bachelor of Integrative Studies with an emphasis in communication and sociology. After graduation in December, she hopes to continue to embrace her vagabond spirit by exploring the world, cultivating community, sharing meaningful and mundane stories, and eating lots and lots of ice cream.

Cassidy Eubanks, Social Media Manager is currently a senior majoring in Creative Writing. She is an aspiring author and a freelance editor. When not writing or studying, she can be found binging Critical Role on YouTube, baking mind-blowing chocolate chip cookies, and dramatically lip-syncing to Disney songs.

Ashley Glasper, Copy editor is a senior at Oakland University, majoring in Integrated Studies with a minor in journalism. She is excited about graduating in Spring 2021 and continuing her educational journey by pursuing her master’s degree in Journalism. For a career goal, she hopes to one day become a great journalist and a freelance writer. Ashley enjoys reading and longboarding when she is not studying or working.

Emily Lawrence, Nonfiction Editor, is an undergraduate at Oakland University pursing her BA in writing & rhetoric and philosophy, with a minor in creative writing. Her intention is to get her PhD in writing & rhetoric so she can teach first-year writing at the college level. When not working or doing schoolwork, she enjoys playing Dungeons & Dragons, hanging out with her friends, watching Scrubs or Star Trek with her husband, and walking her two Pomeranian-mix dogs, Bastion and Mr. Toe.

Eileen LeValley, Copy Editor, is a senior at Oakland University. Her degree path is in journalism, with an emphasis in creative writing and studio art. Eileen is back in college after thirty-five years, with over thirty years of work experience in the hospitality management industry. She hopes to utilize her degree for her interest in freelance food writing and art. She also has one son who is twenty-seven.

Channer Podlesak, Fiction Editor is a senior at Oakland University who majors in English with minors in biology and linguistics. She hopes to work with children upon graduating in the spring, in whatever form that may be. When not at work or school, she can be found furthering her love of literature and spending time with family and friends.

Renee Seledotis, Poetry Editor, is a junior at Oakland University with a major in creative writing (specialization fiction) and a minor in French Language. She delights in writing speculative fiction and prose poetry and is hoping to someday support herself with her own writing. Her love for a good story extends to animated films and video games of all genres. She also loves making beaded jewelry and spending time with her two cats, Artemis and Blackie.

Caitlin Sinz, Fiction Editor is currently a senior at Oakland University. She is working towards a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing, specializing in fiction. Caitlin is looking obtaining a career in either a publishing house, or as a content writer, after graduation. When not slaving away at her own writing, she spends time with her kitten Salami or playing video games with her friends on the computer.

Sharese Stribling, Poetry Editor, is a senior at Oakland University, majoring in English and minoring in creative writing. She is looking forward to graduating

in the spring, and continuing her education in a higher education and student affairs master’s program, with hopes of having time to continue her passion for writing in her free time. When she isn’t attempting to tackle her ever-growing to-be-read pile, she can be found watching horror movies on her couch and buying stickers on Etsy.

Jake Warsaw, Copy Editor is a junior at Oakland University, majoring in psychology while indulging in creative writing classes to feed his creative side. He has been writing since he was twelve and hopes to pair his writing with his work in psychology after obtaining his bachelor’s degree in 2021. He aims to become a counseling psychologist and published writer later in his career. Other than studying and working retail, he spends his time playing video games, journaling, and longboarding.