Kearstin Estrada – Event Manager
Kearstin Estrada is a Junior studying Creative Writing at UWM. One of the best things she read recently was the trilogy by Lev Grossman called “The Magicians”. She likes cats and hopes to one day live on top of a mountain and be a great Creative Writing Master/ Professor/ and author.
Nick Fitzpatrick – Nonfiction Editor / Web Team
Currently, Nick is a Senior at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee working on completing a B.A. in English with a Creative Writing emphasis. His anticipated graduation is May of 2016. He would describe himself as a hardworking, open-minded, passionate, friendly, creative, and social individual. Future opportunities that he seeks to gain experience from include the areas of public information, creative and technical writing, social media, reporting, editing, and marketing.
Jessica Gollwitzer – Copyeditor / Events Team / Support Staff
Jessica is a senior obtaining a degree in Creative Writing in English as well as a minor in Psychology. Her earliest pieces of fiction date back to her kindergarten days, writing picture books about dinosaurs and whales and performing them for her friends and family. At present, Jessica enjoys writing suspenseful and dark as well as motivational pieces – depending on her mood. She hopes to one day teach English and be the outlet of inspiration she recieved from her teachers for a new generation of kids.
Alexandra Howard- Business Manager / Events Team/ Support Staff
Alexandra is a senior in the creative writing program at UW-Milwaukee. When she is not taking care of her three small children, studying, or working she loves to write fiction. Alexandra is hoping to go on to graduate school and combine her love of writing with her love for children and teach some day.
Alex Tubbs – Art Director / Web Director
Alex Tubbs is a senior studying Creative Writing at UWM. Specializing in fiction, Alex has been reading full novels and writing short stories since elementary school. Infrequently found on campus, he is usually spending his time multitasking; working, reading, walking his dog, playing video games, ghosthunting- sometimes all at the same time. In the event that you do run into him, he is always in the mood for a philosophical debate.
Andrew Mathwick- Nonfiction Editor / Associate Layout Designer
Andrew, not Andy, Mathwick is a Senior studying Creative Writing and Welding. Andrew grew up in Portland, Oregon but moved to Janesville, Wisconsin two weeks after graduating because “it looked good on google images.” Besides writing and welding, Andrew typically spends his time waiting patiently or staring at birds. Andrew’s stories have been published in Furrow twice, as well as Metazen, The Rock River Review, and Red Cedar Review.
Matthew Wamser – Copyeditor / Poetry Editor
Matthew Wamser is a fourth semester creative writing major with a minor in Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He primarily writes poetry and volunteers at the People’s Book Co-op, one of Milwaukee’s non-profit bookstores. He would like to make a living writing poetry and kitchen appliance user’s manuals.
Lorna Pecard – Secretary / Poetry Editor
Lorna Pecard is an English major at UWM who will be graduating in Spring 2016. She has two cats, and more books than she can count. Her current Netflix addiction is Grey’s Anatomy, but she also watches That 70’s Show on a regular basis. You can usually find her at Chipotle with a delicious burrito in one hand and a book of poems in the other.
Melissa Holck – Publicist / Associate Event Planner
Melissa Holck is an undergraduate Creative Writing major at UWM. She loves playing the paino and ukulele, knitting, and has an obsession with dogs. She focuses on writing poetry and fiction as well as being a complete bibliophile. She spends her days planning her dream home and facing the crippling fear that McDonald’s McDoubles will lead to her demise.
Benjamin Smart – Fiction Editor / Support Staff
Ben is a student from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom but currently studying at UWM on an exchange year at a junior level. He is an English major but he also engages with creative writing and film studies classes. He enjoys the sense of escapism that literature and film provide; as a result he is in the process of creating a screenplay that he aims to shoot soon. he also podcasts and writes for a blog which he hopes to expand in the future.
Kayci Bodart- Social Media Editor / Events Team / Support Staff
Kayci is a senior at UWM, seeking a degree in English, with an emphasis on Creative writing. She plan to graduate in December 2016. After Graduation she hopes to find a job in Public Relations, then she would like to come back and get her teaching certificate so she can teach Creative Writing at a High School level. Kayci enjoys writing, but her favorite thing to do is art. Any kind of art as long as creativity is involved. She loves making movies, and she would love to write a movie at some point in her life.
Emily Talapa – Managing Editor / Fiction Editor
Emily Talapa: first name is actually an acrostic poem, “Every Morning I Like You.” She is sometimes eating tortellinis, sometimes not. A half-full Nalgene is always near her. Current situation: student at UWM where she hopes to flee soon with a major in journalism and a certificate in digital arts and culture. Dream: own a St. Bernard and name it Leo or Mrs. Norris. Goal: move to England where she will continue to trip on cobblestone and be happy.
Rachel Stuplich – Layout Designer / Managing Editor
Rachel Stuplich is a second semester transfer student from UWMC, a two-year school where she got her associates degree. She is an intended double major in Journalism and English and currently has a junior credit status despite it being only her second year in college. She enjoys reading and writing creatively, but her true passion lies in the cinema; she generally spends most of her time watching some kind of movie or show in her dorm room.
Jess Alanis – Art Director / Publishing Director
Jess has dabbled in social media management, newsletter editing, manuscript writing, company social media managing, office assisting, newsletter editing, and literary journal interning. Joining Furrow in 2016 she is one of the newest additions to the circulating team. Currently, she is studying professional and technical writing as well as creative writing with a minor in journalism at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and will be a part of the graduating class of 2017. She hopes to find her way into the business of making fiction manuscripts into books one day, meanwhile exploring the world of publishing to no extent. When she’s not working, or burying herself in school work and mugs of cold coffee– she enjoys a good read, and working on a sketch or two.
LD EF JC
Valerie Laken – Faculty Advisor
Valerie Laken is the author of the novel, Dream House, and the story collection, Separate Kingdoms. She is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
L.S.