Staff

Writing Fellows

Kyle Allbright lived in America's heartland, the great state of Ohio, until the age of 26. While in Ohio, he managed to be a decent son in a healthy and happy middle-class family, graduate high school, and earn a BA in English at Wright State University. Later he worked in a major information technology corporation before entering the MA Religious Studies program at Naropa University. His main interests include the study of ancient languages, theology, philosophy, and written composition, but he spends an even greater amount of time absorbing himself in what most people consider an impossibly acquired taste in music. He is currently teaching Writing Seminar II: Art of the Scholar.

Brandon Arthur is originally from Decatur, Illinois. He received his BA in English at the University of Colorado–Boulder. He is currently enrolled in the MFA Writing & Poetics program at Naropa.This spring, he is providing instructional support for Writing Seminar I: Art of the Engaged Writer.

Ryan Clark, a native Texan, is the head writing fellow at the writing center and the founder and leading scholar of Panda Bear Pedagogy. Having earned a BA in English from the University of Mississippi in 2006, he is currently an MFA candidate in the Jack Kerouac School of Writing & Poetics. Apart from working for the writing center, he also sits on the Cauldron faculty committee as the MA student representative. In addition he serves as managing editor of Naropa's literary journal, Bombay Gin. In the past he has served as editor for a small literary magazine and has worked as a librarian. Recently, along with Tim Inman, he has co-founded the Samuel Langhorne Clemens School of the Poetics Institute of St. Christina the Astonishing of St. Trond. Apart from co-teaching a creative writing course for the SLCSPISCAST, he is currently providing instructional support for Writing Seminar II: Art of the Scholar.

Lindsay Colahan is a second-year MFA student in Naropa's Writing & Poetics program. She received her MA in English from the University of Victoria in British Columbia. This spring, she is providing instructional support for Writing Seminar II: Art of the Scholar.

Molly Conner is a first-year graduate student in the MFA Writing & Poetics program, prose concentration. Coming fresh off the heels of receiving her BA in English from Temple University, she is looking forward to learning all she can from Naropa and its students while adjusting to life in Colorado.

Nathan Edmunds is a first-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.

Megan Fincher is currently in the MFA Writing & Poetics program with a concentration in poetry. She received her BA in sociology from the University of Illinois–Urbana. Megan moved to Boulder from Los Angeles, where she lived and worked on Skid Row with homeless men and women for two years. Prior to that, Megan lived on an organic farm. Megan hopes to eventually teach poetry at the college level and also in the prisons. This spring, she is providing instructional support for Writing Seminar I: Art of the Engaged Writer.

Tim Inman was the head fellow at the Naropa Writing Center for the fall 2007 semester and an administrative assistant for the Writing & Poetics department. Tim is a second-year graduate student in the MFA Writing & Poetics program. He graduated with a BA in English from the University of Mississippi in 2005.Since then, along with Ryan Clark, he has co-founded the Samuel Langhorne Clemens School of the Poetics Institute of St. Christina the Astonishing of St. Trond. Apart from co-teaching a creative writing course for the SLCSPISCAST, this spring, he is teaching Writing Seminar II: Art of the Scholar.

Tomara Kafka is a nontraditional graduate student in Writing & Poetics. She is a transitioning transplant from sunny Sarasota, Florida, where she taught writing at the college level and worked as a freelance storyteller for a number of years. Her avocations are civic activism and singing/songwriting. Her undergraduate degree is in creative writing from Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida.

Troy Omafray was born and raised in Bismarck, North Dakota. In college Troy studied classical and rock guitar at McNally Smith College of Music and the University of Minnesota, Japanese language at Lewis & Clark College, and expository writing at Yale before getting his BA and MA in philosophy and religion at Hamline University. He taught yoga at Macalester College for eight years, writing and music courses at Sleepy Hollow Arts School in Bismarck, and critical thinking at Century College's Kaleidoscope "college for kids" program. He is currently in the MA Indo-Tibetan Buddhism with Tibetan language program. Aside from Buddhist studies, Troy is interested in Tibetan language, cross-cultural philosophy, the meaning and metaphor of food and cooking, experimental music, Irish literature, Ashtanga yoga, and pedagogy. His all-time favorite guitarist/ventriloquist/break-dancing robot is Buckethead. On occasion, Troy actually does impersonations of Buckethead for the writing seminar classes. Troy is currently teaching Writing Seminar II: Art of the Scholar.

Donald Stikeleather is a master of divinity candidate in his fourth year at the NWC. He is also a graduate assistant for the Contemplative Practice Seminar. Donald’s writing first appeared professionally within his performance work, most notably at the Cleveland Performance Art Festival. Recently, his poetry appeared in Tendrel and Focus on the Fabulous, the first anthology of works by GLBTQ Coloradans. Donald received an MFA in dance from the University of Illinois–Urbana, and he taught and choreographed around the nation at the college level and modern dance circuit for fifteen years.