Issue 6 editors
Leah Beckhoff // Fiction Editor
After her freshman year studying philosophy at the University of Vermont, Leah dropped out of school in order to talk to strangers and couch-surf across America. Eventually she settled back home in Philadelphia and enrolled in Community College, where she earned her Associates of Liberal Arts Degree in December 2015, studying everything from ceramics to human sexuality. In September 2016 she moved to Montpelier, Vermont and began to pursue her BFA at Goddard College. She spends mornings slicing bread at a local bakery and afternoons journaling.
Anita Olivia Koester // Managing Editor
Anita Olivia Koester is a Chicago poet and author of several chapbooks including Marco Polo (Hermeneutic Chaos Press), Arrow Songs (Paper Nautilus), and Apples or Pomegranates (Porkbelly Press). Her poems have been nominated for Best New Poets and Pushcart Prizes, and won So to Speak’s Annual Poetry Contest, Midwestern Gothic’s Lake Prize in Poetry, and others. Anita also is an associate poetry and book review editor at Green Mountains Review, and the founder of Fork & Page, a review blog focusing on contemporary poetry. Her own poetry is published or forthcoming in CALYX Journal, Tahoma Literary Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Phoebe Journal, Muzzle Magazine, The Shallow Ends, and elsewhere. Her work has been supported by the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Vermont Studio Center, and PLAYA. Her website is- www.anitaoliviakoester.com and she tweets @anitaokoester
Britt Long // Social Media Editor
Britt Long currently lives on the coast of Central New Jersey. Her YouTube channel, AwebecoBento Productions, focuses mainly on geek culture and entertainment. She has published AlrightAphrodite, a web series that sheds a humorous light on online dating in the modern world and explores sexuality and gender. Young Adult fiction is her secondary genre where Britt focuses on creating characters that she wished were available when growing up. She has been part of Duende since Spring 2016 and previously was a staff writer for Her Campus at Rider University before moving on to Goddard College. Outside of school and YouTube, Britt spends most of her time looking at corgi photos, singing Celine Dion, drinking wine, and walking along the beach at night.
Reign Manzano // Assistant Poetry Editor
Reign is a suburban LA writer whose work gravitates toward subject matter such as mental health, addiction, and interpersonal connection. In a parallel universe, he is the front man of a band. At Goddard, his Fall 2017 BFA study plan is to explore Jungian archetypes in contemporary storytelling. His personal mission is to clean his own room. With his work, Reign hopes his readers might finish reading and feel compelled to say, “Damn, this is how life is.” He has also served as Poetry Editor for the 9th Volume of College of the Canyons’ cul-de-sac Literary and Arts Magazine, where several of his pieces have been published.
“First get your facts straight, then bend them at your will.”
—Twain
M. A. Vizsolyi // Faculty Advisor
M.A. Vizsolyi is the author of two books of poetry The Lamp with Wings: Love Sonnets, (HarperPerennial) winner of the National Poetry Series, selected by Ilya Kaminsky, and Anthem for the Wounded (Sibling Rivalry Press). He is also the author of the chapbooks, Notes on Melancholia (Monk Books) and The Case of Jane: A Verse Play (500places press), which was produced for Performa 13 and broadcast on National Public Radio. Vizsolyi’s work can be found in numerous journals, including The New Orleans Review, Narrative, Crazyhorse, Cream City Review, The Journal, Pleiades, The Burnside Review, Harpur Palate, Ninth Letter, Ploughshares, and Gulf Coast. Follow him at his website.
Odin Halvorson // Senior Editor
Odin Halvorson is a writer, philosopher, and filmmaker, based in California's Northern Bay Area, where he works as the director of the Pacific Zen Institute's Audio/Video department. He focuses his artistic efforts around self-betterment and awareness, and strives to affect a positive change in the way society perceives the importance of art. To this end, he blends politics, philosophy, and optimism for the future into his work, ever aiming for a day when the goal of "bettering oneself and all of humanity" becomes the common baseline for our social lives.
In 2016 one of Odin’s short stories was included in the science fiction anthology “From the Ashes, Rise” produced by Enso Publishing. He is also the author of three poetry chapbooks: “Hart Haiku: Pieces a Changing World” (2017), "Hart Unedited" (2014), and "Wist" (2015), all of which are available on Amazon. You can keep up to date with him on his website.
Robert Hunsberger // Assistant Fiction Editor
Robert Hunsberger is a writer from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He is currently pursuing his BFA at Goddard College, where he studies fiction, poetry, and autobiographical brevity.
Sarah LaFleur // Nonfiction & Hybrid Editor
Sarah Ann LaFleur is a writer and yoga teacher who is passionate about the creative, spiritual life. She is the author of two chapbooks, Lioness Heart (2017) and Atoms and the Void (2017), which can be found on Amazon. Her work has been featured in Elephant Journal, Natural Awakenings Magazine, and The Burlington County Times. In 2017 Sarah was awarded the American Association of University Women’s Returning Women Scholarship and Goddard College’s Priscilla Backman Scholarship for Activism for her direct work with and advocacy for at-risk youth, disadvantaged women, and recovery populations. Sarah’s aim is to encourage enthusiasm for life through creative arts and yogic practices. Visit her online here.
Patti Wahlberg // Poetry Editor & Visual Art Editor
Originally from Western Massachusetts, Patti migrated to Southern California on a whim at age 24, where she proceeded to sporadically attend college courses in acting and writing. Her chapbook Doom Flower was published in 2000 by Laguna Poets, and her work has been included in the journals Slipstream, Pearl, Up Against the Wall, Mother, Kiss me Goodnight, and Solace in So Many Words. However, the raising of two beautiful daughters has been, by far, her most gratifying success in life. Forty-five years after graduating from high school, Patti has returned to college to pursue a BFA in Creative Writing. She has recently moved back to her New England roots, and now lives in beautiful Cabot, Vermont, with her beloved husband and two toy poodle rescues.