Staff

Writing Fellows

Kelly Alsup is an MFA Writing & Poetics student, concentrating in poetry. Her goal is to finish her first book manuscript by graduation in Spring 2011. Miss Alsup hails like golf balls, inspired by her father’s favorite pastime and childhood storms in Omaha. Abundant corn aside, Kelly took to the farm fields of Oregon, California, and Vermont, where she cultivated organic vegetables; taught agricultural education; and herded cows, goats, and sheep. It was hard to keep Galileo and Georgia, the goats, off the boat dock, where they enjoyed Irish clogging. Kelly also loves to dance, swim, and sing, which makes for great friendship with spry ungulates.

Nathan Edmunds is a third-year graduate student in the MA Indo-Tibetan Buddhism with language program. Before becoming interested in Buddhism, he spent a number of years studying theater arts. He currently enjoys meditating, reading, having weird dreams, and occasionally composing crappy music on his laptop (though any or all of these are subject to change depending on the weather and various other celestial factors). Oh, and he also sort of likes writing. Nathan is currently teaching Writing Seminar II: Art of the Scholar.

Kate Harrington hails from North Carolina but has spent the last five years out West. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in journalism, she moved to Jackson, WY, to be a wrangler and learn to snowboard. One broken wrist and a knee surgery later, she could call herself a boarder. The desire to attend graduate school brought Kate to Boulder, Colorado, where she has spent the last two years snowboarding, playing with her two dogs, reading, writing, attending tons of concerts, and participating in other forms of debauchery. She is pursuing her MFA in Writing & Poetics and considers herself to be a grammar junkie. She is currently providing instructional support in Writing Seminar I: Art of the Engaged Writer.

Shane Joaquín Jiménez is a student in the MFA Writing & Poetics program, with a concentration in prose. He received a BA in literature from the University of Texas at Austin. He is originally from San Diego, California, but has spent the last 15 years living in rural Arizona, Las Vegas, Austin, Brooklyn, and now Boulder. This semester he is excited to be working in the NWC and teaching Writing Seminar I: Art of the Engaged Writer.

Katie McEwen is from Nelson, BC, Canada, and is studying in the master of divinity program. Prior to arriving at Naropa, Katie bicycled across Canada, studied ancient philosophy, hitchhiked in South America, and led haunted walk tours in Ottawa. Katie speaks Spanish, enjoys baking, and is curious about the nature of space.

Kyle Pivarnik is an MFA candidate in the Writing & Poetics program. He holds a BA in creative writing from Ohio University. He enjoys talking about himself in the third person, traveling, and playing fetch with his cat. Originally from Cleveland, he claims to be the only Ohioan trying to go “home.”

Hannah Rodabaugh likes chickens that make eggs that make chickens. Hannah likes circles. She likes poems that are shaped like round things. And she likes round things that are shaped like poems. This is not unusual. The moon is shaped like poems all the time. She also likes teaching, and belly-dancing. Hannah got her BA in English (musicology minor—fun!!) and also has an MA in English from Miami University. She mostly lives in sweet-sparkle-sunshine-pony-land (to her—but other people call it Boulder), where she is working on her MFA in poetry at Naropa. She is currently teaching Writing Seminar II: Art of the Scholar.

Brent Smith grew up in the cozy hills of Los Angeles and, becoming rather disenchanted by the glitzy holographic scene, decided to relocate and complete undergrad work at Humboldt State University, nicely cloaked by the vast Redwood curtain. Brent is currently attending the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics—chasing an MFA—and so far has written for various publications, such as NewMusicWeekly, IMAGOzine, Splash Magazines Worldwide, World Affairs: The Journal on Int’l Issues, and has authored the preface for journalist Paola Harris’s new book Exopolitics: All the Above. Monomaniacal Lonesome Traveler by night—Essay Collaborator by day.

Regina Smith is a first-year graduate student in the Contemplative Psychotherapy program. Although originally from Maryland, she moved to Boulder from Brooklyn, New York. She has a BA in English from the University of Maryland, an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, and has taught basic composition, interdisciplinary studies, introductory literature, and poetry workhops for the past eight years.

Matt Spurlin technically earned an undergraduate degree from Lake Forest College in Chicago, but the time he spent in class or studying was minimal. For whatever reason, he decided that school was the place to be, so he continued his education at the University of Colorado–Denver, technically earning a master’s in education and a teaching license. After running away to Japan and India for several years, he returned to find himself ill-suited for the real world. He is currently driving to Boulder from Denver every day to study Indo-Tibetan Buddhism in hopes of one day becoming the next Indiana Jones.

Dominique Vargas is from the great one-time-country of Texas. She graduated with her BA in English from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. She spent several years working in journalism and still enjoys striving for objectivity, critiquing fonts, and fiddling with InDesign. Her favorite places are only accessible in a vehicle with four-wheel drive. Her favorite sounds are those of a typewriter and a table saw. Her favorite smells are fresh-baked pie, pumpkin, and hay. Dominique is also an MFA candidate in the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics with a concentration in prose. She is currently providing instructional support for Writing Seminar II: Art of the Scholar.