Category: AUTHOR BIOS

FRANK CHRISTIANSON is a first-year Master's student at
Brigham Young University. His current emphasis is creative writing,
but he is also interested in contemporary theory and literature. As
an undergraduate, Christianson studied English and played on the
BYU football team.

MICHAEL MITTON, a Salem, Oregon, native, studies economics
and philosophy at BYU. He plans on pursuing a Ph.D. in
economics. Mitton is a previous winner of an Inscape contest and
won second place in the David H. Yarn Essay Contest in 1994.

DAVID PACE is finishing a Master's Degree in American literature
and creative writing. After his April graduation, Pace plans on
either law school or a doctoral program. He has a novel in progress
titled Clear Friends and was a fiction winner in the Vera Hinckley
Mayhew contest.

TRACI OBERG graduated in English from BYU in December,
and although she is still undecided as far as graduate work is con-
cerned, Oberg knows she wants to write. Oberg has won previous
Inscape contests and published a story in an earlier issue of Inscape.
In addition to her writing, she is busy hosting a radio show and
coaching basketball at Provo High School.

DEREK OTSUJI graduated with a double major in English and
Japanese and is now a first-year Master's student at BYU. Otsuji
was awarded the Hinckley Scholarship, the Thomas Award from
the English Department, and an honorable mention prize in the
1994 Vera Hinckley Mayhew poetry contest.

KRISTEN TRACY did her undergraduate work at Loyola
Marymount University and is currently pursuing her Master's at
BYU. A native of Ucon, Idaho, Tracy taught high school in the Los
Angeles inner city before beginning graduate work. Her
poetry has appeared in L.A. Miscellany and the Student Review.

CASUALENE MEYER is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the
University of Southern Mississippi. She recently completed her
Master's with a creative writing emphasis at BYU, where she also
did her undergraduate work. Meyer has won numerous poetry con-
tests at BYU, most notably the 1994 Hart-Larson Poetry Contest.

MICHAEL SMITH has studied at BYU where his fiction has
earned honors. Smith's story, Luci and Lujean's, won first prize in
the 1994 Vera Hinckley Mayhew Fiction Contest. Smith currently
resides in Sale Lake City, Utah.

ELISSA MINOR, a native of Lake Oswego, Oregon, is a freshman
at BYU An English major, Minor plans on a Ph.D. and a career
writing poetry. She admires the work of William Stafford, another
Lake Oswego native, and John Ashberry.

ADAM BLACKWELL did his undergraduate work in Norwiche,
England, in theater and film and is currently working on his
Master's at BYU. Blackwell won the Vera Hinckley Mayhew
Playwriting Contest for his play, The Absent One. Another of
Blackwell's plays, Blind Dates, was a finalist in the 1994 Siena
International Playwrights Competition. Blackwell has been the
BYU Playwright of the Year for the last two years.

CHRIS TALBOT grew up in the Washington, D.C., area and
plans to return there this spring when he graduates with a B.S.A. in
photography. Talbot's photos in this issue came from a special
projects class and were later displayed in a show titled "The Ends
of the Earth. " His collection won an Undergraduate Research and
Creative Work Award at BYU in 1994. Some of these photos won
a Jurors Choice Award in the BYU Student Art Show in 1994 and
were also exhibited in the 1994 Intercollegiate Art Show.

Liesl M . Buskirk was born and raised in Laie, Hawaii, over the wall from BYU-Hawaii, where her parents are both professors. She is a senior majoring in English with a German minor and loves hiking, swimming, and wilderness. She and her husband, Allen, plan to attend graduate school on the East Coast next fall.  

Sarah Jean Carter is an English major from Provo. She works as an editor for Don Norton and spends her spare time reading in the sofa chairs at Barnes and Noble.  

Cristl Call-Cook studies writing as a graduate student. She and her husband Ryan share a six-month-old alarm clock named McKenee. She’s either from Tucson, Arizona, or Anacortes,  Washington, depending on the day. She’d like to be from Victoria, British Columbia, but unfortunately spent only one month  there. She ties her own flies.  

Chris Carlson graduated with a BFA in photography this past April. His work, seen in magazines such as Phototechniques or Photo Life, has won him numerous awards. He sees photography as a versatile medium, one he uses to convey thoughts and  ideas through still life. Chris did an internship with Gerald Bybee in the summer of 1997 and moved to New York in May of this year with his wife. All of Chris’s photos are taken using  photoelectric imaging.  

Christina Dominguez is a recent photography BFA graduate with a minor in film. She enjoys working with multimedia and has received numerous awards for her photography including the Sundance Utah Young Artist’s Photography Award. Her most recent achievement is the publication of her work in Rolling Stone. Christina also completed an internship at the Polaroid 20×24 studio in New York.  

On a mission to Uruguay, Whitney Fox will be writing an updated version of Godspell for television. She enjoys Asian food stores and spends most of her time in her head.  

Nathan Furr, a graduate student studying English, grew up  in Oregon along the Willamette River, where he enjoyed  crewing to the rhythm of the water. He plans to get an MFA in creative writing and go on for a Ph.D. to fulfill his dream of being a renowned scholar at the university level.  

Krista Halverson is an English major in her fourth year at BYU. She grew up in Oregon on the Columbia River Gorge but feels at home wherever there are pine trees. Her ambitions  are to drive across every state in the U.S. and to live in Montana. She has never been to Italy.  

Scott Alan Hanson is an art and English major. He was reared in Blackfoot, Idaho, served a mission in Micronesia, and attended  Ricks College, where he met his wife. They now have an adorable baby girl and are expecting another in November.  

Jennie R. Leishman, who originally hails from Lancaster, California, graduated in May 1998 with her MA in English. Her thesis was a book of poetry titled “Blossoms of Hedge  Garlic.” Jennie is now living in Salt Lake City.  

James Richards is a graduate student in English at BYU. His hobbies include crafting Barbie clothing out of fruit leather, drinking from coconuts through licorice straws, and stuffing his ears with raisins. If he doesn’t have raisins he uses figs. No figs? Then dark socks cut into small pieces—and he’s always got dark socks.  

Caren Schofield is from the back hills of Riddle, Oregon, where incidents like “How Many Witches” are more common than they should be. She is a senior studying humanities, and  she writes poetry in her spare time.  

Kristen Tracy received her MFA from Vermont College. She also earned an MA in American literature from BYU. She currently lives in Montpelier, Vermont.  

Linda VanOrden is originally from a town in England some where near Shakespeare country. She won the Ann Doty fic tion contest this year. Linda’s about to finish her Master’s degree in English—if she ever gets her novel finished! Right now her  time is consumed with potty training her new dog, Bristol, in between writing and teaching English 115 and 316. She wishes puppies wore diapers.  

Arthur Westover graduated from BYU in April 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology. In the tradition of previous BYU poetry groups, he founded in September 1996 Wick’s End Poetry Club, which has published two anthologies. Arthur now attends Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.  

Ed Whitley is a graduate student in English studying American literature. This past summer he spent his time getting married.  

CONTRIBUTORS

bios  

ERIN BARKER is a senior at BYU majoring in English teaching with a  minor in Spanish teaching. She is a big fan of inscape.  

D .C. NELSON was born more than a quarter-century ago in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Unaware chat Victorianism was  long ago dead, D.C. spent most of his youth writing medieval-themed ballads in the style of J.R.R. Tolkien. When he discovered d1ac no one liked rhyming poetry, D.C. left for a two–year stint touring the bohemian salons of Indiana. Returning, he wrote a number of bad poems, a few of which were published by Weber Stace‘s literary magazine. His life long goal is to be accepted by inscape.  

A . E. MARLOWE is a fantastic and dedicated writer who is now on hiatus in  the land of Russia. When she returns to her hometown of Provo, she will eventually graduate in English with minors in Russian and economics.  

PIPER RAE ARMSTRONG literally means “a beam of pepper with large biceps.” However, her mother was probably not thinking of this as she  cuddled her precious bundle of joy. Now, nineteen years  lacer, Piper is busy living up co her spicy nomenclature. She  enjoys office supplies, collects shiny metal objects, and occasionally knocks her bed off its cinderblocks in the middle  of the night. She is a brilliant in every sense of the word.  (Note: co all you literary plebeians out there, a brilliant is a  special cut of diamond.

AMMON BARKER graduated April 2006 in English and plans to practice law,  a course that will allow him to continue his lavish lifestyle.  He looks forward to his new life with his beautiful bride to-be and their imaginary dog Cilantro.

JOE PLICKA graduated with his MA from BYU summer 2006. He can‘t decide if poetry is the “higher art” or not, but likes it in  part for the feeling of finishing something he started a feeling that has eluded him most of his life.  

EMILY STANFILL earned an MA in comparative studies and studied early  modern literature (if you care to be so detailed–desire, the  body, and the dialectic of mourning in Edmund Spenser’s  Faerie Queene and St. Teresa’s Libro de la Vida). She grew  up in Duxbury, Massachusetts, just out of Boston, where  her father would buy her chocolate-covered cannolis (an  Italian pastry) to compensate for her lack of a love life.  They‘re her favorite.

D.C. NELSON is the adoptive father of three goldfish and the author of  the young adult novel Danette, Me, and the Messy Kiwi  of Love. He is earning a master‘s degree in Seattle.  

JON OGDEN is an English literature major planning to land a career in academia. 

AARON ROBERT ALLEN is a master’s student at BYU. He enjoys companionship  with his muse and catamarans. He used to enjoy the  Simpsons, but he is sorry to say it has been supplanted  by Family Guy, his newest guilty pleasure. Other guilty  pleasures include things that please him and make him  feel guilty.  

LINDA PAULSEN was born in Salt Lake City in 1951 and began writing as  soon as she could hold a pencil. She began her English  studies at BYU in 1969 but moved to Rock Springs, Wyoming, after her marriage in 1972. Linda and her husband  had five children, and upon his retirement in 2003, the  family returned to BYU so Linda could finish her degree.  During the course of her 30+ year “senior year” she wrote  and published stories and poetry for children in the Friend  and Jack and Jill magazine, along with several anthologies.  Past accomplishments include teaching creative writing  and illustrating workshops, and receiving awards in city  and college competitions. Other pursuits include painting,  music, and her nine delightful grandchildren.  

CHANTELLE ELISE DAINES is a junior at BYU majoring in English and minoring in  International Development. She enjoys literary theory,  modern art, old lost photographs, and traveling in her  free time. She also enjoys feeling accomplished. She  hopes to go on to live a fulfilled and aware life. 

CHRISTOPHER SORENSON studies neuroscience, like most successful writers. He  frequently writes for Schooled magazine, but this is his  first entry into a reputable publication. He is devastatingly handsome. He returned home to New York to attend  medical school. His favorite color is green, and you can  read more of his musings at ranteumptom.blogspot.com.  He cannot be taken seriously.  

HOLLY ROSE HANSEN is currently working full time for BYU Independent Study  and working towards a master‘s degree. She earned a bachelor‘s degree from BYU in communications with a minor in  English in 1999.  

EMILY MCARTHUR grew up in northern California on a Christmas tree farm.  She graduated from BYU in English and is now seeking  some form of useful employment before heading to grad  school.  

RYAN MCILVAIN works as an arts reporter for KBYU-FM in Provo, where  he lives with his wife, Brooke. An essay of his appears in  the Fall 2006 issue of storySouth. 

LESLEY COLVIN is from Salt Lake City, Utah. She married the love of her  life in 2004 and graduated from BYU in April 2006 with  a bachelor‘s degree in art history and a minor in political science. She and her husband are attending graduate school  in Oxford, England, where she will study art history and  try to continue to take as many pictures as possible of the  English countryside.  

AIDA WARREN does not pronounce her name the same way as the  famous Broadway musical. She studied English at BYU.  Aida loves playing soccer and ea.ting Ben & Jerry’s Half  Baked ice cream, but not at the same time. Aida is inspired  by Monet and other post-impressionists. She loves to  travel and take pictures in her limited spare time. 

ELISABETH MATTHEWS was born in Salt Lake City in 1957. She graduated from  BYU in April 2006 with a BFA in painting and a minor  in English. Divorced with five married children and five  granddaughters, she was delighted to have her first grandson as the end of April. More of Elizabeth‘s art is available online at ha.wkinsonphotogra.phy.com/a.rtist_gallery/Liz_  Matthews. 

STEVEN JAMES is an alumnus of BYU who took up photography as a  hobby. He lives in Salt Lake City with his wife of twenty six years. They have five beautiful children and someday  hope they will have some grandchildren as well. He loves  boating, skiing, and spending time with his family.  

BECKY MORRIS graduated from BYU in accounting and soon after moved  to California. She is currently creating a photo collection  of clocks around the world, thanks to a personal interest in  the subject. 

DAVID HABBEN II is originally from Boise, Idaho. He graduated from  Brigham Young University in 2006 with a BFA in  Illustration. David’s achievements included participating in  the 2006 Annual Student Show selection and winning the  2005-2006 talent award. David gives thanks to his family  and friends for their support-his work will always be a  dedication to them.  

RACHEL MEIBOS is a psychology major from California who enjoys doodling  in the horror vaccui style, despite her appreciation of the  minimalist movement. She also enjoys writing bad poetry,  exploring pseudoscience, and listening to vernacular and  classical music.