Staff

Andrew (Writing Fellow)

Pronouns: he/him

Hometown: Omaha

Year of Study: Junior

Major(s): English Major, Econ Minor

Future Life Plans: I'd like to work as an urban planner or as a tax lawyer. I'd like to have a nice garden too.

Superhero Name: negative conclusion from affirmative premises man

Favorite Piece of Writing: The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

Favorite/least favorite writing: I am a big fan of reflective writing.

Part of speech you would be and why: I would choose to be the period. It suits me best. It's the deadpan punctuation mark. It has a universally agreed upon function -- very little ambiguity with the period. I like to take my time too. That lines up well with the period.

Hobbies: Game theory, vexillology, comedy television pilots

Shannyn (Writing Fellow)

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Loveland, Colorado

Year of Study: Junior

Major(s): Majors: English and Classics Minors: Digital Humanities and History

Future Life Plans: Move to Seattle and work for a top-tier publishing company

Superhero Name: Agent Anxiety

Favorite Piece of Writing: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Favorite/least favorite writing: Creative short stories ( I love to read others, I just can't write them myself)

Part of speech you would be and why: If I were a part of speech I would be a conjunction because I love connections and also love the Schoolhouse Rock song!

Hobbies: I love to hike and kayak. I am working on visiting all of the National Parks in the US. I love all animals but especially my dog and alpacas

Maggie (Writing Fellow)

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Clay Center, NE

Year of Study: Junior

Major(s): English and Anthropology; Film Studies and Digital Humanities

Future Life Plans: I feel attacked right now

Superhero Name: Monkey Girl

Favorite Piece of Writing: The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders

Favorite/least favorite writing: Favorite: poetry that I never show anybody

Part of speech you would be and why: Exclamation mark--because I can't seem to write emails with any other punctuation.

Hobbies: Biking on my new purple bike, baking blueberry banana bread, (b)reading books by non-British authors

Rachel (Writing Fellow)

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Lincoln, NE

Year of Study: Junior

Major(s): Secondary English Education

Future Life Plans: I want to teach English to middle or high schoolers and eventually become an administrator or guidance counselor. 

Superhero Name: My superhero name would be Super Scorpio, and my power would be having extreme focus.

Favorite Piece of Writing: My favorite piece of writing is Hunger by Roxane Gay. It's a masterpiece and she is brilliant!

Favorite/least favorite writing: My favorite kind of writing assignment would have to be academic essays, and my least favorite would be resumes.  

Part of speech you would be and why: I would be the oxford comma because I'm important but often forgotten. </3

Hobbies: I really like reading romance novels and watching horror movies. 

Kaley (Writing Fellow)

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Omaha

Year of Study: Junior

Major(s): Sociology and French majors, English and Psychology minors

Future Life Plans: Sociologist

Superhero Name: Phoenix

Favorite Piece of Writing: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Favorite/least favorite writing: Tight word limits are a fun challenge, but they're still frustrating!

Part of speech you would be and why: Parentheses because I always add too much extra information

Hobbies: Play piano, cook, read/write, and watch nature documentaries

Ellie

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Lincoln, NE

Year of Study: Junior

Major(s): Majors: Political Science + Spanish, Minor: Arabic

Future Life Plans: very uncertain!

Superhero Name: Tsunami

Favorite Piece of Writing: The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde

Favorite/least favorite writing: favorite: fiction writing

Part of speech you would be and why: ... because there’s always more

Hobbies: playing music and reading

Kaitlynn

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Omaha, NE

Year of Study: Sophomore

Major(s): Psychology and Journalism

Future Life Plans: To pursue grad school to become a psychologist or to have a career in journalism.

Superhero Name: Peanut

Favorite Piece of Writing: The Harry Potter series.

Part of speech you would be and why: My favorite writing assignment would be any form of creative writing. My least favorite writing context would be citations. 

Hobbies: Reading, writing, knitting, playing with my kitten, and running.

Rose (Writing Fellow)

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Lincoln, NE

Year of Study: Sophomore

Major(s): English

Future Life Plans: I plan to go into editing and publishing

Superhero Name: The Emerald Owl

Favorite Piece of Writing: The Lord of the Rings

Favorite/least favorite writing: I love creative writing assignments and find scientific research papers tedious to write

Part of speech you would be and why: I would be a preposition because, even though I don't really need to be there, I make things more exciting!

Hobbies: Reading, writing, listening to music, drawing, hanging out with friends and family, and having deep conversations

Sydney

Pronouns: they/them

Hometown: Boise, Idaho has my heart, but I spent the last seven years in Bethesda, Maryland

Year of Study: Sophomore

Major(s): Psychology major and gender studies minor

Future Life Plans: Law school and then some sort of law career, hopefully!

Superhero Name: Doctor Tired

Favorite Piece of Writing: The Shining by Stephen King

Favorite/least favorite writing: My favorite writing assignment is open-ended essays! I love exploring a topic and seeing where the research takes me.

Part of speech you would be and why: An EM dash -- I love using it to connect my thoughts (which I have a lot of) and it's classier than parenthesis!

Hobbies: Embroidery, yoga, guitar, writing, and reading

Linnea

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Schaumburg, Illinois

Year of Study: Sophomore

Major(s): Major in English and minor in computer science

Future Life Plans: In my future, I hope to move back to Chicago and live the city life for a while.

Superhero Name: Lavish Linnea?

Favorite Piece of Writing: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Favorite/least favorite writing: I genuinely love doing literary analyses. My least favorite writing assignment is definitely informative essays.

Part of speech you would be and why: Exclamation points because they're so fun and loud.

Hobbies: I'm a passionate member of the speech team here at UNL. In my free time, you can find me roller skating or playing dungeons and dragons.

Vasili

Pronouns: he/him

Hometown: Omaha

Year of Study: Sophomore

Major(s): Political Science/Economics

Future Life Plans: Either become involved in education or attend law school.

Superhero Name: Valiant Vasili

Favorite Piece of Writing: East of Eden

Favorite/least favorite writing: My favorite type of writing assignment is political or historical research papers

Part of speech you would be and why: Question mark because I am not really sure

Hobbies: Music, being outside, basketball, and soccer

Madison

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Burke, VA & Papillion, NE

Year of Study: Sophomore

Major(s): Major: English, minors: French, political science

Future Life Plans: Teaching English in France, law school for human rights law!

Superhero Name: Copperhead

Favorite Piece of Writing: Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay

Favorite/least favorite writing: Favorite: poetry, least favorite: short story

Part of speech you would be and why: Exclamation point, because I use them too often! I'm also a morning person, so I feel like I come off as very energetic!!

Hobbies: Color guard/marching band, Irish dance, exercising, and reading and writing poetry!

Erika

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Edmonton, Canada

Year of Study: PhD Student

Major(s): Composition and Rhetoric

Future Life Plans: More of what I do now! Always writing and teaching.

Superhero Name: The (re)Vision

Favorite Piece of Writing: Changes constantly, but I'm always being inspired by the writing of my peers.

Favorite/least favorite writing: I enjoy taking a creative approach to almost any assignment--finding ways to weave in narrative, metaphor, imagery, or experience.

Part of speech you would be and why: An em dash--I'm no Emily Dickinson, but I love its energy and ability to connect ideas while also leaping (dashing) between them. I overuse it in both poetry and prose!

Hobbies: I love cooking, and visiting the farmers' markets in Lincoln.

Katie

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Year of Study: PhD Student

Major(s): Poetry & Latin American Literature

Future Life Plans: write and teach, cook food, make the world an easier place to exist

Superhero Name: I think just my actual name. But perhaps a symbol, like this old school heart emoji:

Favorite Piece of Writing: Louise Glück's poem, "Parable" in her book Faithful and Virtuous Night

Favorite/least favorite writing: I don't like personal essays that don't create a kind of entry point for the student. Chronological personal essays feel boring and don't get at what it's like to actually be a human. I like them when the assignment asks the writer to explore a specific part of themselves. 

Part of speech you would be and why: em dash, because I am a poet 

Hobbies: cooking, dancing, reading, gardening 

Ilana

Pronouns: she/her/they/them

Hometown: Givatayim, Israel. Favorite Place I've lived - NYC or Oxford, England

Year of Study: PhD Student

Major(s): English literature and creative writing

Future Life Plans: This is a really big question.

Superhero Name: Leftenint Workaholic

Favorite Piece of Writing: I can't choose a favorite book/article/etc.!

Favorite/least favorite writing: "Fun Fact About You"

Part of speech you would be and why: I'd choose to be a comma, because it's assistive, has bendy rules (especially in creative writing), and helps tone

Hobbies: Reading, podcast listening, getting angry about the state of the nation

Ben (Writing Fellow)

Pronouns: he/him/his

Hometown: Boise, ID

Year of Study: PhD Student

Major(s): Medieval and Renaissance Studie

Future Life Plans: Teaching Shakespeare at the university level.

Superhero Name: Foxman

Favorite Piece of Writing: A seminar paper I wrote in Fall 2017 on A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Favorite/least favorite writing: Favorite: Literary Analysis. Least Favorite: “Bad News” emails.

Part of speech you would be and why: Quotation marks, because I love to make references.

Hobbies: Gaming, Working Out

Simone (Research Assistant)

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Madison, SD (hometown)

Year of Study: Masters Student

Major(s): English—composition & rhetoric

Future Life Plans: To continue in academia!

Superhero Name: Melodrama

Favorite Piece of Writing: Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather

Favorite/least favorite writing: Anything that is timed!

Part of speech you would be and why: an em dash—they’re flexible and cute

Hobbies: Writing(!), yoga, astrology, biking, playing with my cat, patio drinks with friends, coffee, pastries