Contributor Notes – 2020 – Vol. LI

Sophia Aimone was born and raised in Bend, Oregon and has always had a passion for art. This made her decision to major in Art at Eastern Oregon University very easy. She has experimented in all forms of media, but pen on paper is her favored method. Her future entails a degree in Art and a minor in English and Writing and she intends to pursue a creative career.

Kimberly C. Baum says that as long as she can remember, she has loved creating. Kimberly grew up drawing, stitching, collaging and imagining all the things she wanted to make. Materials inspire her to make art and she has a special fondness for found materials. Plundering her grandma’s basement and her grandpa’s plumbing shop fed her childhood creativity. As an Eastern Oregon University student not much has changed, Kimberly’s sculptures often contain found objects with a vintage vibe. When not working on her art major and theatre arts minor, she is busy wrangling a menagerie of pets, 4 college-aged children and a husband. In those rare moments of free time, you can find her fishing, sewing costumes or curled up with a good book

Carissa Cummings is a Senior at Eastern Oregon University working towards a bachelor’s degree in English/Writing. She is a plant enthusiast and spends her free time in her garden. She has plans to work in the publishing industry after graduation.

Tonya Dias graduated from Eastern Oregon University Winter term 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in English/Writing. Tonya loves spending time outdoors and finds her best writing inspiration while surrounded by nature. “Becoming Whole” is her first published piece.

Paige Dodd is an English/Writing major at Eastern Oregon University. She graduated in June 2020 and is continuing her education at EOU in the MFA program to pursue her masters degree in Creative Writing. After earning her MFA, she plans to also obtain a masters degree in editing and publishing. Dodd’s goal is to become a book editor for a publishing company. She lived in Amity, Oregon until seventh grade when she moved to Burbank, Washington and graduated from Columbia-Burbank High School. During her years at EOU, Dodd was a track athlete, which she plans to continue in her first year of the MFA program. She also hopes to resume her positions as Editor-in-Chief of the EOU student-run newspaper, The Voice, and as a writing tutor.

Sarah Douglas was a student at Eastern Oregon University.

Mary Edwards is currently finishing up her Bachelor of Science degree as an Art major at Eastern Oregon University. She considers herself a 2-D media artist. Over the last couple of years, Edwards’ work has been inspired by her interest in biology and ecological relationships. Her work has been exhibited at Eastern Oregon University’s Nightingale Gallery and Art Center East in La Grande, Oregon; as well as the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture in Joseph, Oregon.  In December 2018, she received the people’s choice award at Art Center East’s “The Big” juried public exhibition. Edwards has aspirations to go on to achieve her M.F.A after she has graduated from Eastern Oregon University

Amelia Diaz Ettinger was born in Mexico but was raised with her paternal family in Puerto Rico, where she grew up as a single child in a large, male-dominated family. At nineteen she ran away to Washington State, to pursue a Master’s of Science in Biology and to liberate herself from the hermetic hold the island, and her family had on her. Currently, she is finishing her first year in Eastern’s MFA program in creative writing. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in journals and anthologies. Her first collection of poetry was published in 2015 by Redbat Press, Speaking at a Time. Learning to Love a Western Sky will be available this fall from Airlie Press, and Fossils on a Red Flag, will be available from Finishing Line Press this winter.

Hannah Flower, an Eastern Oregon University Art major, was raised in Dayville and Kimberly, Oregon. She is captivated by human psychology and is always striving to better understand human behavior. She has always valued art as the expression of humanity and has immersed herself into that world in order to delve deeper into the many facets of this expression.

Ryan Granger studied English and graduated in 2019. He currently lives on Oregon’s southern coast and works in education, where he hopes to share his enthusiasm for literature with others. He writes poetry and short stories and is grateful for the opportunity to share them.

Kristi Helgeson was raised by second-generation farmer-immigrants in Eastern Washington and has spent her adult life in Seattle. Her experiences in both rural and urban America-from advocating for an Alabama death row inmate to creating media for kids with learning disabilities-inspire and color the perspectives reflected in her writing. Kristi is pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Eastern Oregon University.

Melissa Legg is currently pursuing a Bachelors in English/Writing, and History, along with a minor in Anthropology/Sociology at EOU. She is passionate about expressing her creativity through art, writing, and teaching her children how to express themselves in an everchanging world. She is also passionate about exploring her community through karate-do, family walks along the beach and genuinely getting to know the residents in her community. Melissa currently resides in Ocean Park, Washington with her husband, Adam, of 15 years, two daughters aged 6 (Autumn Lily) and 10 (Cailin Renne) two dogs, (Jedi and Willow), two cats (Pepper and Zelda), and a Bearded dragon named Sisi (sy-sy). The selected piece, “A Soul in the River,” is a writing imitation of Peter Grandbois’ work of fiction, “Nahoonkara.”

Meredith Matthews was born and raised in the Grande Ronde Valley. Intensely interested in the world around her, she spent much of her childhood outside collecting feathers and looking underneath rocks. She has always been interested in art, particularly drawing. As the chronic pain from a childhood injury slowly worsened, Matthews turned her curiosity inward. Often unable to reconcile with a body that she no longer felt in control of, she began exploring it through her work. Matthews is graduating in 2020 with a major in art and minors in biology, history, and theater.

Alexander Navarro is a Mexican-American artist who specializes in photography, graphic design, and 3-D design. As a young boy, he revered the wealthy. Their luxurious cars in television advertisements, beautiful homes, and lavish lifestyle all gave him admiration and envy. The media has always portrayed them in a regal and elite sort of status, the cream of the crop. However, as he grew older Navarro came to discover the flaws of the system which keeps them on top.

Jan Ng was born and raised in Colfax, Washington and is in her second year attending Eastern Oregon University majoring in art and minoring in business administration. She enjoys painting and photography and hopes to pursue a career in animation.

Christen Pagett lives in the wet and wonderful Willamette Valley, just close enough to escape there frequently. At 31-years-old, she has been a Language Arts teacher for middle and high school for the last many years. Her passions include her large and zany family, her faith, tea houses, libraries, and travel.

Brandy Powers-Crowe, after years of documenting the music and arts of the Pacific Northwest, made the journey home to the Southern United States in February of 2020. This transition was immediately challenged by tornadoes and the realized Covid19 crises. On May 4th, 2020, a rare weather event called a Derecho occurred. This story contrasts sheltering from a visible storm as well as the threat of an invisible virus. Powers-Crowe resides on the outskirts of Nashville, TN with her three daughters. 

Brendan Smith is an English major at Eastern Oregon University with plans of graduating in the fall of 2020. He is working towards his dream of becoming a librarian, and will continue his studies towards a Masters in Library Science. Currently, Brendan lives in Milton-Freewater, Oregon where he spends his time mowing lawns and working with the College Place Lions Club.

Briana Smith was a student at Eastern Oregon University studying English/Writing with hopes to work in publishing after graduation.

Hannah Smith grew up in rural Eastern Oregon, surrounded by nature and a blanket of make believe. She personified animals, crawled through shrubbery, climbed trees, and ran through the tall grasses of pasture. Now, reminiscing on her childhood and the environment in which she originated from, she’s come to realize that there is not much left of it. Her childhood is ending in a very real way due to natural changes and she is conflicted with this disturbing reality. How she remembers the environment resembles nothing to its current state. She is trying to preserve what once was while the actuality of the landscape persists in taking over the space.

Catherine “Cat” Stevens was born and raised in Oregon and moved to Texas with her family about ten years ago for a job opportunity. She has four children and a grandson that she adores. Cat works full time at a community college and enjoys working with students. She is a senior at EOU finishing her last term as an English major with a minor in Communications. She is grateful to be published for the first time and wishes a special thanks to the EOU faculty that have supported her journey.

Sanheshke Wakinyan, a Lakota writer and 2020 graduate of EOU, her work focuses on historical and ongoing rhetoric surrounding the exploration of entitlement, settler-colonial identity, imperialism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of indigenous communities world wide. 

Samantha Wegerman is a student at Eastern Oregon University.