Where are they Now?
Jennifer Bouchard is teaching high school English in Enfield, CT and writing articles on literary texts for their online database for EBSCO, where she did her internship for the MFA. She has had an essay on gardening published in the Christian Science Monitor and is currently working on getting the short stories from her thesis published.
Kim Dorfman is currently teaching in the English Dept. at CCSU in a temporary full-time appointment. She is teaching two writing classes and two sections of World Lit from 1650--present. She believes that without having learned to meet the demands of John Briggs's course, she'd not have survived this very demanding semester. Last fall, she taught two courses at Tunxis and two at CCSU, in addition to appearing in a very small role in Aaliyah Miller's short film, After The Headlines. She is looking forward to the summer which will bring a little more free time to finish the novel version of her thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the MFA degree. She is hell-bent on completing it THIS YEAR!!!!!!! Then, she will submit it for publication, institute strategies that will place it on the bestseller list, make millions of dollars and whip through all the other screenplay, YA, non-fiction projects, and novels she has got planned, back-burnered and ready to go!
Natalia Fiore, an MFA graduate from the first cohort, has been working as a Writing Center Tutor and Academic Tech at Hillsborough Community College in Brandon, Florida, from the fall of 2007 to the present. On April 17th, 2009 she delivered a well-received presentation on "The Value and Importance of the Writing Center Experience to Become a Better Teacher" at the Florida Regional Writing Center Conference at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Natalia also has served as a Writing Adjunct on the faculty of Nova Southeastern University Tampa campus since January of 2008. During her time at Nova, she has taught Basic Writing, College Writing, and Advanced College Writing classes in which she uses her knowledge of film and music to inspire her students to appreciate writing as a transcendent form of expression. This summer, Natalia will attend the Juniper Summer Writing Institute at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst to spend time developing two of her short stories for publication. Natalia continues her close writing relationship with her mentors, Don Snyder and Jack Dennis, who guided her through her thesis screenplay, Sonata, which she is hoping to adapt into a TV movie. She aspires to write and publish a novel and to continue her teaching of college writing.
Kirstin Genthner, an MFA graduate from the first cohort, has been very busy procrastinating on sending her novel to an agent. It's so much more pleasant to think one might not get rejected than to get that dreaded email or letter. Meanwhile, she has managed to get an essay published in Miranda Literary Magazine and an article in Michigan in Touch; she has also become copy editor for Miranda Literary Magazine and completed another novel while inebriated by the heady camaraderie of November's National Novel Writing Month. Finally, she adds to her blog--as inspiration illuminates her cranial bulb--which can be found at wrinkledpage.blogspot.com
Vonda Menard's script "Return to Darfur" is currently a quarterfinalist in the ASA screenplay contest and in the 13th Annual Fade In Awards. She is currently working on a new script, whose working title, "Lily's Dick," she anticipates will need to be revised. Dick in this case is short for Richard.
Carmen Palmer is working on her first book of poetry, a chapbook of nature poems to be published in 2009 by Poet's Passage Press in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is also thrilled to be working as a poetry mentor in the national poetry recitation project "Poetry Outloud." Working with POL is an amazing opportunity for her, as a poet writing in English in a predominately Spanish speaking country, as it gives her the opportunity to work with local high school students from both public and private schools in English. Carmen is also working with poet Cecilia Woloch on the launch of the small poetry chapbook press, Fortunate Daughter.
Ron Samul is an Instructor and Writing Specialist at Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut. He is the publisher of the international quarterly Miranda Literary Magazine and the director of Skinny Toe Press. He is a writing mentor at WCSU MFA in Professional Writing. Ron has written articles, book reviews, and fiction for Library Journal, Inquiring News, SNReview and other electronic journals. He continues to write fiction and works on an adventure dive boat in the summer
Don Stitt performed his solo piece, "The Voices in my Head Have Formed a Choir and Somebody's Singing Flat!" at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the 2008 WCSU Winter Literary Festival. The show was recorded for posterity at New York City's The Duplex in 2008, as well. Don's 1977 children's musical, A Kid's Summer Night's Dream, won 3 MACT awards in 2007 in Minneapolis, MN. In the summer of 2008, Don played the role of Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (under an Equity Guest Artist contract) at WCSU's Ives Concert Park. Don recently performed the role of Bert Barry in 42nd Street at the historic Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, PA, and wrote a "Backstage Blog" which can still be read at http://thefulton.org Finally, Don is honored to have had a dozen of his scripts, scores and recordings have been archived at WCSU's Haas Library in 2009.
Rachel Wofford, another grad from the first cohort, is teaching English at TC Roberson High School in Asheville, North Carolina and loving it, but considering a change to the alternative high school. After having been informed by her agent that memoirs only sell if you're already famous, she is currently working on two fiction books. One is about an extended family who must deal the death of a sixteen year old. In Rachel's words, "...It gets kind of racy and trashy. I like it." The other is about three strong and, to varying degrees, insane women who all love the same child; the birth mother, another family member, and the paternal grandmother who is a voodoo witch from Jamaica. She reports that she has not given up on the memoir!
Colleen Wright is the editor of Literacy Lines and Hope Stone, organizational newsletters for Literacy Volunteers and Bridgeport Youth Lacrosse. Her articles have been published in magazines including AAA’s Journeys, Byline, Kansas City Parent and Baltimore’s Child. She teaches English as a Second Language, and writes about breaking into the national magazine market on her blog, http://awritingcareer.blogspot.com
