Aurora Staff: Spring 2017
| Erick Collings - Editor-in-Chief | Major: English Literature |
Even though Erick is from Alabama, EKU is close to his heart. When he is not in class or working, you can usually find him reading or designing while listening to loud punk rock music. Fun fact about him: he can write legibly with both of his hands!
| Justin Nichols- Submission Manager | Major: English in Creative Writing |
Justin plans to go directly into the MAT program to receive his education certification to teach high school English. He loves to write short stories as a hobby and plans to finish his first book within the next year.
| Joe McKenna - Social Media Manager/Interviewer | Major: English in Technical Writing |
Originating from Frankfort, Kentucky, Joe McKenna is an English major with a concentration in technical writing. When he's not busy with school, he's typically playing guitar or listening to music, particularly of the metal variety.
| Laura Huff - Publicity Manager/Music Editor/Staff Page Editor | Major:English in Creative Writing |
Laura is an anime, music, and gaming enthusiast who enjoys
graphic design.
| Darby Campbell - Fiction Editor | Major: English in Creative Writing |
An aspiring editor and eventual author, before Aurora, Darby wrote and edited for the Eastern Progress and the independent publishing company Mystery and Horror, LLC. When she's not reading or writing, she enjoys playing board games and going caving.
| Chloe Karnes - Fiction Editor and Event Planner | Major: English in Technical Writing |
Chloe resides in Lexington with her husband and two dogs. She is currently expecting her first daughter in the spring and is pursuing a degree in technical writing with hopes to graduate December 2017. She loves reading, writing, cooking, and Netflix.
| Jonathon Michael Sawyer - Drama Editor | Major: English in Creative Writing |
Born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Jonathan attended the Elizabethtown Independent Schools district for much of his life before leaving Elizabethtown High School to graduate from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in Plainsboro, New Jersey. Currently attending Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, he is soon to graduate with an English major with a Creative Writing concentration, a minor in Theatre Arts, and a certificate in Women & Gender Studies. He has written a play called “Speak No Cruelty,” which was performed in a play-in-a-day festival at Eastern Kentucky University.
| Stephanie McNew - Creative Non-Fiction Editor | Major: English Literature |
Stephanie is a graduating Senior who is originally from Corbin, Kentucky but now lives in Richmond. Her goal is to be a published author, so her hobbies include reading and writing. She is also a consultant with the Noel Studio, and enjoys working there.
| Frank McClure - Poetry Editor | Major: English in Technical Writing |
Frank McClure is a dual-enrolled undergraduate (Creative Writing Concentration) and graduate (Composition and Rhetoric) student at Eastern Kentucky University who in 2015 was the first recipient to be awarded the Thelma Smallwood Scholarship for the 38th Annual Appalachian Writers’ Workshop at the Hindman Settlement School and in 2016 had his poem "Friction" published in Aurora Literary Magazine. He is a course-embedded consultant for the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity as well as the copy editor at the Eastern Progress newspaper and the weekend lunch-lady at Kenwood Health and Rehabilitation.
| Tori Wall - Poetry Editor | Major: English in Creative Writing |
Tori is a junior who is studying creative writing and literature. Her parents named after the Tori character on Saved by the Bell. Her hobbies are reading and writing.
| Cassandra Cobb - Art and Photography Editor | Major: English in Creative Writing |
As a Salina, Kansas born girl, Cas Cobb has lived in Kentucky for most of her life. She has a dream to be a Supernatural Romance fiction author. She is currently attending classes at Eastern Kentucky University where she is a senior working hard to get her Bachelor’s Degree in English and Creative Writing. Cas is also working on an Asian Studies Minor before she graduates.
| Glenda Brown - Event Planner/Staff Page Editor |
Major: English in Technical Writing Minor: Communication Studies |
Glenda is a Christian and is proud to say that she has been saved by grace through the amazing life of Jesus Christ. She has been blessed with the greatest support for her education through her husband. She is a mother of two teenage boys whom she loves dearly. Glenda enjoys helping the community through the ministries at Eubank Baptist Church.
| Kristen Lane – Photographer | Major: English in Creative Writing |
Kristen is an aspiring novelist and amateur photographer. When she isn't in her own little world planning, drafting, writing stories, working or thinking about Aurora, she is often playing video games with friends, talking with family, reading Sherlock Holmes and going on walks to inspire creative ideas for stories. Her favorite quote is from Sherlock Holmes, The Beryl Coronet: "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
| Dr. Gaby Bedetti - Advisor to the Staff |
In 2003 an editing class co-taught by Gaby Bedetti and Chris Daniel published the first online edition of Aurora. This year’s students in ENG 420: Stylistics, Editing, and Publishing hope you enjoy our issue of Eastern Kentucky University’s 80-year-old literary and arts journal.
