Dilruba Ahmed (BPhil/English Writing, 1996) has joined the faculty of the Warren Wilson's Low Residency MFA Program for Writers. In the spring of 2020, the Pitt Poetry Series published her second book, Bring Now the Angels. "Phase One," a poem from that collection, was recently featured on the Poetry Unbound podcast.
Mandi Spina (BA, English Literature, 2005) is a senior human resources analyst in local government in Virginia.
Stefi Rubin (BA, English, 1971) is now an associate professor emeritus of Wheelock College in Boston, where she taught Child Life and Family Studies. With a PhD from the Harvard University Clinical Psychology and Public Practice program, she worked as a clinical psychologist with Children's Charter, a child and family trauma clinic in Waltham, Mass.
Philipp Koman (BA, English Writing; certificate in Public and Professional Writing, 2019) currently works for several startups as an analyst/consultant. He writes, "Nonfiction writing taught me to collect, digest, and present data/information, and while I may not be writing essays per se, I do exactly what I was taught to do."
Kimberly Talcott, who holds a certificate in Public and Professional Writing has started a freelance writing business and was recently invited to speak at the first statewide Women in Networking event by the Women's Business Center in South Dakota.
Phoebe Gilmore (BA, English Writing, 2018) is currently in her final year at Penn State Law, where she is on full scholarship.
Kent Kosack (BA, English Writing, 2019) currently works with Asymptote, a journal dedicated to translated and world literature. He also has recent publications in Asymptote, Pidgeonholes, and Critical Read.
Text to above image of Quarantine Letter from Dave Casker (BA 1971) for screenreaders:
As a retired high school teacher, the various (and varying) pandemic restrictions have not affected me very much. I rarely dine in restaurants, and I don't drink, so bars closing meant nothing to me except for the occasional take-out chicken wings or hamburger. Having to check at Staples to see if their techs are on duty so I can have my laptop checked out is a minor annoyance.
The major issue is that my elderly mother is in a care home which is on lockdown. She's unable to communicate over the phone, so since March, I have seen her only three times—when the home temporarily lifted the lockdown and allowed "porch visits." Otherwise, I rely on staff to respond when I inquire about how she's doing.
On the positive side, I am both expanding and reducing my to-do list. Expanding, in the sense that there have been chores that just seemed "too big" to handle—like sorting through a few dozen boxes of "stuff" collected over 20 years of teaching both here and abroad. I have begun those things. Reducing, in the sense that, even for mundane chores like mowing the lawn, I realized I'd fallen into the "there's always tomorrow" mentality that a lot of retirees have. And while that fact hasn't changed, my mentality has. So I actually HAVE straightened up the garage, for example, and the lawn was always mowed and now the leaves are taken care of.
I'm also spending more time playing with the dogs (rarely am I "too busy" for them) and actually cooking instead of just heating up a can of soup.
All in all, it seems that my motivation and attention to detail have increased, and therefore so has my sense of accomplishment in all those "little things" that make up life.
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