About Us
Managing Editor:
Albert Abonado is the author of the poetry collection JAW (Sundress Publications 2020) and the forthcoming Field Guide for Accidents (Beacon Press 2024), selected by Mahogany Browne for the National Poetry Series. He has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. His writing has appeared in the Bennington Review, Colorado Review, Poetry Northwest, Zone 3, and others. He lives and teaches in Rochester, NY.
Editors:
Bre Chalon is a 32-year-old mom of two, married to her high school sweetheart, and a writer rediscovering herself through words. She returned to writing during her mother’s journey with dementia, using it as a way to cope, reflect, and stay grounded. Writing has become a lifeline for her since the passing of her mother. It has provided her with a space that is vital for healing, expression, and connection. Poetry is something that Bre finds solace in because of the honesty and emotional depth that it possesses. A few of the topics that Bre explores in her work are grief, motherhood, love, and memories. Some of the activities that she does in her spare time include reading, spending time with her family, or simply taking care of the aspects of herself through poetry.
Brian Hoody (he/him) is an older student who helped write the original Dead Sea Scrolls. A graduate of Canisius University with a dual major in History and Anthropology, he is in the process of finishing his AA in Creative Writing at Finger Lakes Community College. His writing subject matter is primarily the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains and many of his short stories can be found in the publications Adirondack Peeks and The Catskill Canister. Additionally, he has put out two collections of short stories; Notes From Above Treeline and Tales From Above and Below the Treeline. Some of his other writings can be found in the compilations Adirondack Peak Experiences and Adirondack Archangels: Guardians of the High Peaks. Reading the poetry and short stories that people have taken the time to submit has restored his faith in (some of) humanity.
Benjamin Jonigan is a college student, recently joining the FLCC creative writing program, though he’s been at FLCC since the fall of 2020. Looking to work as an editor or work in other fields as a literary journal reviewer, writing short fiction for fun but not to self-publish. Thus far, however, his writing has been mainly nonfiction, but as an avid geek for all forms of media he enjoys a good nonfiction story. Outside of academic and career plans he is also a long-time gamer, but otherwise his hobbies tend to ebb and flow, mostly living in the moment with his friends and family.
Laika Moore is a student and editor at FLCC
Taegan Salamone-Lent is a creative writing major who, after pursuing a degree in computer science, took a hard turn into the world of literature and has pursued it passionately over the last year. They specialize in poetry, the subject that got them into writing in the first place, but dream about one day writing and publishing novels. After a long time spent at FLCC, through two degree programs attended remotely all the way from Georgia, this will mark their final year enrolled at the college. They help manage the Dead Poets Society Writing Club as its treasurer. Their favorite poem at the moment is Counterman by Paul Violi. They have a long-standing hobby of folding origami, and will jump at any opportunity to show off their ‘Five Intersecting Tetrahedrons’. Though perhaps the fact most well known by their peers is the rotating cast of cats always sleeping on the bed behind them.
Jordon Smeatin is a fiction and poetry writer that has his eye set on video game story writing and voice over work. He loves plain tofu, Mariah Carey and staring at paper for hours but not writing anything down. When he finally gets something down, his focus is on the ‘gay experience’ in an effort to create the literature he wants to see in the world. He is currently pursuing his associates degree in Creative Writing with the knowledge that someday he will be able to use his voice to help others in the LGBT community. Jordon also has forthcoming work with the Wildsound Festival so stay tuned.