Masthead
Eric Rasmussen, Editor
Eric Rasmussen moved to Eau Claire before fourth grade and he hasn't left since. He attended the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, then got a job as an English teacher at Memorial High School. He even bought the house he grew up in from his parents. He earned an MFA from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, and his work has appeared in various publications, including Third Coast, North American Review, Fugue, The Penn Review, Pithead Chapel, and extensively in Volume One. Visit theotherericrasmussen.com for more.
Kate Hinnant, Poetry Editor
Kate Hinnant’s first year in Eau Claire was the worst of her life. She had pneumonia three times, fractured her vertebra, and even died for a minute. But she doesn’t blame the city. Since 2002, she has taught in the English department at UWEC and now serves as a professor of research and instruction in McIntyre Library. She studied anthropology at Cornell University, and then got an MFA at Purdue and a master’s in library science at the University of Illinois. While at Purdue, she served as poetry editor of Sycamore Review. She has poems published in New England Review, Cimarron Review, and decomP magazinE. Her life is made possible by her twin tweens, Sally and Leo, and her husband who teaches film and theory at the university.
Paul Reid, Interim Prose Editor
After a whirlwind road trip to Eau Claire that involved a 14-hour card ride, a three-hour interview, and a timed grammar test, Paul Reid returned to New York to find a job offer waiting for him. He moved to Eau Claire two weeks later and has been teaching writing and literature in the Chippewa Valley ever since. When he is not tinkering with vintage bicycles or spending time with family, he will occasionally write a piece or two.
Isabella Gross, Poetry Reader
Isabella Gross has only been in Eau Claire for a short time, but it sure does feel like home. She is originally from Traverse City, Michigan. She got her BA in English from Central Michigan University and her MFA in Creative Writing Poetry from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she was the Creative Director for Miami’s graduate literary magazine, OxMag. She now (happily) balances being an associate lecturer of writing at UWEC and running her independent micro press, And Then Publishing. Her creative work can be found in Furrow, Walloon Writer’s Review, OxMag, and others.
Jessi Peterson, Poetry Reader
Jessi Peterson moved to the Chippewa Valley the summer before 3rd grade, arriving just in time to miss the famous 1980 storm. She is a children’s librarian in Chippewa Falls and her favorite days of the week are storytime days (Tuesdays and Fridays, 10:30 and 11, join us!). She loves reading and singing and acting silly, all in the service of growing the next generation of readers. She also loves to be out in the woods or on the river in a kayak, which is why her (fabulous) husband is building a treehouse where she can write in the woods and look out over the river. For several years she has served as co-leader of one of the Young Writers Workshops during the Chippewa Valley Book Festival and is a member of the Poets of the Oak Lair, a local poetry workshop group. Her work has appeared in Wisconsin People and Ideas, Sky Island Journal , the Local Lit column of Volume One and the inaugural issue of Barstow and Grand.
Anna Loritz, Prose Reader
Anna Loritz is an English Language Arts teacher turned school librarian. She’s lived in Eau Claire on and off since graduating high school. In her time away she’s taught abroad in Thailand and pursued other strange interests, such as working on historical sailing vessels. Her writing has been featured in Barstow & Grand, and she’s won the prestigious Cirenaica Toilet Seat Award for being “generally likable.”
Scout Roux, Prose Reader
Scout Roux is a writer of short fiction and poetry. Their work can be found in table//FEAST, Passengers Journal, and Lunch Ticket, among others. They live in Madison, Wisconsin.
BJ Hollars, Consulting Editor
B.J. Hollars is the author of several books, most recently Wisconsin for Kennedy: The Primary That Launched a President and Changed The Course of History, Year of Plenty: A Family's Season of Grief, and Go West Young Man: A Father and Son Rediscover America on the Oregon Trail. He and his Fireside Productions, LLC. film partner, Steve Dayton, has also completed a documentary When Rubber Hit The Road. He is the founder and executive director of the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild and the Midwest Artist Academy, as well as an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and a columnist for The Leader-Telegram. He lives a simple existence with his family.
Emily Rutzinski, Intern
Emily Rutzinski decided to attend UWEC after walking across the bridge for the first time, and hasn't doubted their decision yet. They are currently a second-year student studying for a degree in Communications and English and hope with their opportunity for experience at Barstow & Grand, NOTA, and the Center for Writing Excellence on campus, they can pursue a future of working in poetry, literature, and film.
Sarah Ferraro, Photographer
Sarah Jo is an artist in the Eau Claire community. Using the feminist revolution as her muse, she collages, photographs, films, doodles, and writes poems about the lives of gals and pals. As a Bachelor of Fine Arts student at UWEC, Sarah works as a photographer and designer for NOTA, a literary and fine arts magazine. She also is a photographer for the Eaux Claires Music and Arts Festival, where she is reborn in creativity every summer.
Staff Alumni: Jodie Arnold (Poetry Reader, Issues #1-2), Carrie Butler Becker (Poetry Reader, Issue #3), Jan Carroll (Poetry Reader, Issue #1), Dorothy Chan (Managing Editor, Issue #4), Elizabeth de Cleyre (Prose Editor, Issues #6-7), Rachel Esselman, (Prose Reader, Issues #3-6), Katy Hackworthy (Prose Editor, Issues #4-5), Lindsay Hein (Intern, Issue #3), Reonna Huettner (Intern, Issue #6), Thain Irwin (Prose Reader, Issues #1-2), Ashly Johnson, (Poetry Reader, Issues #2-7), Charlotte Kupsh (Prose Editor, Issues #1-3), Anecia Larsen (Intern, Issue #5), Yia Lor (Prose Reader, Issue #1), Karen Olson (Prose Reader, Issues #1-2), Rebecca Mennecke (Intern, Issue #4, Prose Reader, Issue #5), Deb Peterson (Prose Reader, Issues #2-4), Ryan Purdy (Prose Reader, Issues #2-3), Grace Schutte (Intern, Issue #7), Emily Thalacker (Intern, Issue #3), Katie Venit (Prose Reader, Issue #1), Alex Zitzner (Intern, Issue #2)