Meet the Staff
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Patricia Damocles - Managing Editor: Patricia Damocles is a senior at Lewis University majoring in English Language & Literature with a minor in Creative Writing. She is a transfer student from Benedictine University who previously studied Writing & Publishing in the journalism field. Aside from being an editor for Jet Fuel Review, Patricia is a member of Sigma Tau Delta. What she strives to achieve as a Jet Fuel editor is to give passionate, aspiring writers a platform to express themselves--especially for the voices of marginalized communities. Some of her favorite writers include Barbara Jane Reyes, Maya Angelou, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Langston Hughes. In her free time, she enjoys reading poetry and short stories, and also making memories with her friends, family, and cats.
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Stephanie Karas - Asst. Managing Editor: Stephanie Karas is a junior double majoring in Psychology and English with a concentration in creative writing at Lewis University. She has worked as one of the school's Communication Technicians and enjoys spending her free time reading, listening to music, or writing. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in 30 N, The American Library of Poetry, and Creative Communications.
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Lydia Kozlowski - Layout Editor; Social Media Editor; Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Editor: Lydia is a senior at Lewis University majoring in English with a concentration in Language and Literature, and minoring in Professional Writing. She enjoys reading short stories, dabbling with design, and writing consistently in her personal journals. Lydia also enjoys reading memoirs and watching documentaries. Along with being an editor for Jet Fuel Review, she is a Publicity Coordinator for Sigma Tau Delta Rho Lambda Chapter and a tutor and ESL/ELL Specialist at Lewis University's Writing Center. Outside of her educational endeavors and commitments, Lydia stays active by running on nature trails and rollerblading around campus.
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Zachary Klozik - Poetry Editor; Marketing and Development Editor: Zachary is a senior at Lewis University, majoring in English Creative and Professional Writing and minoring in Film Studies. On campus, he also works as a tutor for the Writing Center. Zachary especially enjoys reading and writing poetry, but his other interests include filmmaking, sketch comedy, acting, and playing board games. His favorite author is Jhonen Vasquez since he loves the dark comedy that can be seen in his works. He also loves Vasquez’s comic series Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Zachary likes to spend a lot of his free time listening to music and watching movies. His favorite genre is science fiction which is why some of his favorite movies are Donnie Darko and A Scanner Darkly.
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Christian Mietus - Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Editor; Blog Editor: Christian is a sophomore at Lewis University who is an English major and a minor in Film Studies and Russian Language and Culture. In 2019, he received the “Dr. Stephany Schlachter Excellence in Undergraduate Scholarship Award” for his collaborative piece “Assimilation through Sound." Additionally, his poem "The Japanese Photography is Covered in Dust" is forthcoming from City Brink Magazine. His main priority is to develop himself as an individual and film connoisseur, which is his current purpose in life. In his free time, he appreciates and dissects cinema as well as consistently rating and reviewing it. Some of his favorite directors are Andrei Tarkovsky, John Cassavettes, Ingmar Bergman, Kenji Mitzoguchi, Bela Tar, Carl Th. Dreyer, Wim Wenders, Andrzej Wajda, and Yasujiro Ozu. He also appreciates different art forms, such as music and literature. Some of his favorite artists are Tom Waits, Can, Aphex Twin, and Quasimoto. Christian hopes to continue expanding his skills as a writer and to encourage others to do so as well. He writes about film for the JFR blog, so check out Christian’s Cinematic Syntax.
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Salvador Martinez - Poetry Editor: Salvador Martinez is a Junior at Lewis University majoring in Political Science and minoring in English Creative Writing. He transferred to begin the Fall 2018 Semester after completing his Associate’s Degree in Arts with a major in History at Joliet Junior College in the spring of the same year. In his free time, Sal enjoys fantasy, science fiction novels, or even classical works and political theory, listening to music on his phonograph, playing one of his four guitars, or even constructing a Gundam model kit.
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Henrietta Eghan - Asst. Layout Editor; Asst. Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Editor; Asst Poetry Editor: Hello, I am a Ghanian geek, a book nerd, an otaku, and a Sophmore at Lewis University. I am an English major with a minor in computer science with the goal of being a Technical Writer. I write for the Lewis newspaper and work for the English Department at Lewis. I love to read literature and watch films from around the world and across genres. I read Japanese, Chinese, African, and Mexican and American books. Whether it is as a novel, a movie, Korean-drama, a manga, fanfiction or as a literary magazine, my favorite past time is to read and explore different cultures.
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Andrea Rodriguez - Asst. Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Editor: My name’s Andrea Y. Rodriguez, and this is my senior year at Lewis University. Prior to attending Lewis, I completed my associates at The College of Dupage. I am studying English Literature in order to pursue my career as an academic librarian. As for my interest, I love spending time with my family, being in nature, taking care of my plants, writing, cooking, and traveling when I can. I also enjoy exploring unique writing styles. some of my favorite pieces are: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson, and “Girl” by Jamaica Kinkaid. In addition to being a fiction/poetry editor for JFR, I am the editor-in-chief of Lewis Voices, and the administrative director for Sigma Tau Delta, of which I am also a member.
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Jordyn Spangler - Asst Poetry Editor: Jo Spangler is a junior at Lewis University, majoring in English Literature and Language with a minor in Creative Writing. She is a writing tutor in the Lewis Writing Center and a Youth Enrichment Aide for the YMCA. In her free time, Jo enjoys reading, writing, listening to music, and watching movies. She has been to 10 countries outside the United States, including England, Italy, Turkey, and Austria. One of Jo's favorite book series is The All Souls Trilogy, by Deborah Harkness, because of how she mixes the supernatural with history and the focus on character development. In the future, she hopes to go into the publishing industry to help find new and exciting books for people to read.
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Mary Egan - Founder: Mary founded the Jet Fuel Review during her senior year at Lewis University. Since graduating, she has ventured into the publishing world. Mary currently works at Goodheart-Willcox Publisher, where she is an Associate Editor in the Health and Health Sciences department. On a typical day, Mary spends at least six hours fiddling with and correcting other people's words, and that's the way she likes it. She still helps to maintain and edit the Jet Fuel Review's blog. This is Mary's sixth year with the Jet Fuel Review and she is proud of the team managing the journal now. When she's not at work, Mary enjoys whittling down the numbers of unread books on her shelves, participating in National Novel Writing Month, watching Gilmore Girls over and over, and enjoying the time-suck that is the internet.
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Faculty Advisors
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Simone Muench - Chief Faculty Editor & Advisor: Simone Muench is the author of six full-length books including Lampblack & Ash (Winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize; Sarabande, 2005), Orange Crush (Sarabande, 2010), Wolf Centos (Sarabande, 2014), and Suture, a collaborative book of sonnets written with Dean Rader, (Black Lawrence Press, 2017). Her chapbook Trace received the Black River Award (Black Lawrence Press, 2014). Some of her honors include a 2013 NEA fellowship, two Illinois Arts Council fellowships, the Marianne Moore Prize for Poetry, and residency fellowships to Yaddo, Artsmith, and Vermont Studio Center, where she also served as a Visiting Writer in 2016. In 2014, she was awarded the Meier Foundation for the Arts Achievement Award, which recognizes artists for innovation, achievements and community contributions. She received her Ph.D from the University of Illinois and is Professor of English at Lewis University where she teaches creative writing and film studies. Currently, she serves as chief faculty advisor for Jet Fuel Review, as a poetry editor for Tupelo Quarterly, and as the founder and host of the HB Sunday Reading Series. A vegetarian and life-long horror film fan, you can find her at www.simonemuench.com
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Jackie K. White - Faculty Advisor: Jackie K. White is an Associate Professor at Lewis where she regularly teaches Introduction to Poetry; Early U.S. Literature; Latino, Latin American, Native American Literature; and Teaching Young Adult Lit. She has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago where she specialized in Creative Writing (Poetry) with concentrations in Hemispheric-American Studies and Women’s Studies. A former editor of the literary journal RHINO for nine years, Dr. White also has published numerous poems and translations in such journals as ACM, Bayou, Fifth Wednesday, Spoon River Poetry Review, Third Coast, and online at seven bridges, shadowbox, and prosepoem. com. Her first chapbook, Bestiary Charming won the 2007 Anabiosis Award and her second chapbook, Petal-Tearing & Variations, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2008. A third chapbook of poems, Come Clearing, was published by Dancing Girl Press in March, 2012. Dr. White is also the co-translator of Cesar Miguel Rondon’s History of Salsa and is currently working on a translation of Sherezada Vicioso’s Algo que decir: Essays on Feminist Caribbean Literature.
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Consultants
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Kasia Wolny - Book Review Editor: Kasia has recently graduated from Lewis University with a B.A. in English, Literature and Language Concentration, and a creative writing minor. Kasia loves to read literature from around the world and across genres; some of her favorites are Toni Morrison, Khaled Hosseini, Wojciech Kuczok, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Diana Gabaldon. In her writing, she likes to focus on short story and essay composition, and on Polish-English translation. Kasia is a mom of two teenagers who, being bilingual, regularly poke fun at her for mispronouncing English words. In her free time, she likes to hike, cook, tend to her garden, visit art museums, and drink tea with friends.
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Miguel Soto - Web Consultant and Book Review Editor: Miguel is a senior at Lewis University, majoring in English Literature and Language. As an editor, one of his main concerns is giving a space to marginalized voices, centralizing on narratives often ignored. He loves reading radical, unapologetic writers, who explore the emotional and intellectual stresses within political identities and systemic realities. A few of his favorite writers include Gloria Anzaldúa, James Baldwin, Julia de Burgos, Audre Lorde, and Octavio Paz. His own writings appear or are forthcoming in OUT / CAST: A Journal of Queer Midwestern Writing and Art, The Rising Phoenix Review, Rogue Agent, and EFNIKS. He writes for the Jet Fuel Review blog in Not Your Binary: A QTPOC Reading Column, and he also loosely blogs under the guise Xicanx Libre.
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Kayla Chambers - Art & Design Consultant: Kayla is a senior and student at Lewis University and began as a Communications major. Since then she's decided to double major with English. While she joined the staff of Jet Fuel in early 2017, this will be her second year working as a layout editor for The Flyer, the university's newspaper. Her own writing was published in the 2015 issue of Windows Fine Arts Magazine. She spends her free time with her family and reading news articles and videos on current events. She also loves watching and reading anything along the lines of mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. Thus a love for Pretty Little Liars, Invader Zim, X-Files, Agatha Christie, and anything Sherlock Holmes related has sprouted over the years.
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Zakiya Cowan - Consultant: Zakiya Cowan recently graduated from Lewis University with her B.A. in English & Spanish Language and Culture. She joined the Jet Fuel Review staff in 2016, and loves being engaged in the literary community in every capacity from publishing artists and writers to attending readings. She currently works as a Content Intern for Neighborhoods.com. Cowan's writing has been published in Split Lip Magazine and Lewis University's Window's Fine Arts Magazine. Some of her favorite writers include Toni Morrison, Roxane Gay, Eve Ewing, and Safia Elhillo. In her free time, she enjoys listening to crime podcasts, writing, and discovering new bookstores and restaurants to visit in her hometown of Chicago.
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Tim Fitzpatrick - Web Consultant: Tim is an avid reader, writer, and Bulls fan. He joined Jet Fuel Review after its second issue and has not been allowed to leave. Currently, he runs a videography company and works for Jokes4miles doing video work. He enjoys his coffee black, a good film, the occasional alcoholic beverage, and golfing.
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Jennifer Consilio - Faculty Consultant: Jennifer Consilio, English Professor and Writing Center Director, began her career at Lewis in 2005. She earned her Ph.D. from Purdue University in Rhetoric and Composition, with secondary areas in digitality and minority rhetorics. She has taught courses including Writing for the Professions, Document Design, The Electronic Word, Advanced Technical Writing, Writing in the Disciplines: Law Enforcement, Theories of Composing, Rhetoric for Writers, Advanced Writing, and courses in the First-Year Writing sequence. Recent scholarship presentations include “Reuse, Recycle: Constructing a (Re)New(ed) Ethos for Composition Studies,” and “Playgrounds of the Mind: Online Play with Identity.” She serves as the area chair in Virtual Identities and Self-Promotion for the National Popular Culture/American Culture Association.
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Previous Editors
Bianca Apato, Ryan Arciero, Lauren Barnes, Liz Baudler, Jordan Benes, Brittany Bishop, Katelyn Bittke, Joseph Block, Lucas Boelter, Gianna Capperino, Jillian Carlberg, Melissa Carrington, Mary Carroll, Ashley Castillo, Kayla Chambers, Angela Ciarlette, Caitlin Connelly, Melissa Cortez, Michael Cotter, Zakiya Cowan, Amber Curl, Dominique Dusek, Mike Egan, Payton Emond, Katie Esposito, Daniel Fiorio, Tim Fitzpatrick, Sarah Ford, Sam Gennett, Mandy Gieseler, Miguel Gonzalez, Audrey Heiberger, Andrea Holm, Kammeran Hughes, Mark Jacobs, Jake Johnson, Jess Jordan, Jeff Jurinek, Jakob Kagay, Joshua Kostecka, Kari Krajniak, Monika Kois, Kyle Kotas, Michael Lane, Emily Lif, Stephanie Lipinski, Kelly Lyons, Mike Malan, Theresa Marten, Nicole Martinez Harn, Grant Mazan, Ashley McCann, Deirdre McCormick, Symone McCoy, China McDonald, Tina McKee, Zachary Meredith, Gabby Muir, Dina Nashed, Jacqueline Nelson, Doug Overbeck, Stephen Papesh, Sabrina Parr, Kyle Paup, Madelyn Pedersen, Chris Pelech, Tonya Peterson, Lauren Pirc, Carrera ‘Rae’ Powell, Caitlyn Quinlan, Olivia Radakovich, Stephanie Raga, Nicole Reidy, Haley Renison, Donatas Ruzys, Samantha Rydberg, Bree Scott, Christine Sellin, Steven Seum, Lucas Sifuentes, Noah Slowik, Michelle Staje, Ashley Stajura, Rachel Steele, Linda K. Strahl, Reno Stramaglia, Quinn Stratton, Eryn Stochelski, Roslyn Summerville, Keanu Taylor, Armon Thurmond, Victoria Vega, Ashley Zizich