Class Notes

Alynn Sobolik, B.A., English - creative writing, is performing this summer with this psychedelic rock band, Of the Heavy Sun, which just released tis third full-length album, "Cosmic Television." 

Dayna Patterson, MFA, creative writing, has her second poetry collection, "O Lady, Speak Again" coming out with Signature Books in 2025. Signature Books also published Dayna's MFA thesis in February. She's also an English instructor at Western and assistant head of the Research & Writing Studio. 

Christopher Beltran, B.A., English - creative writing, is a public relations coordinator for Dark Horse Comics. 

Tanner Abernathy, B.A., English - creative writing, is head of the English Department at Decatur High School in Federal Way. Tanner also wrote an online 12th grade curriculum and developed an Afrofuturism unit for 11th graders that was adopted district-wide. 

Jordyn Berg Reeves, B.A., English - creative writing, is a web content writer for Rosemont Media in San Diego. 

Alexa Peters, B.A., English - creative writing, is a freelance writer whose work was recently published in Rolling Stone. Her article explored gender diversity in the music industry. 

Tyler Rablin, B.A., English literature, is a teacher whose book "Hacking Student Motivation through Assessment," is coming out through Times10 Publishing.

Jaima Lindell, B.A., English - creative writing, is a project manager for a digital marketing company in Bellingham and her fantasy novel is in the editing phase with the indie Earth and Fire Publishing in Seattle. 

Brittany Rogers, B.A., English literature, is a senior product manager at Microsoft, working on Microsoft 365.

Vincent Rendoni, B.A., English - creative writing, recently published a poetry collection, "A Grito Contest in the Afterlife," selected for the Catamaran Literary Reader. 

Meghan Hickerson, B.A., English literature, is an author and podcaster who has published 16 volumes (so far) of "The Journals of Meghan McDonnell," which chronicles her life since age 8. 

Kami Westhoff, B.A., English - creative writing, and '02, M.A., English, published a short story collection, "The Criteria" in 2002 with Unsolicited Press and her poetry chapbook, "Cloudbound," is being published by Dancing Girl Press. Kami is a senior instructor of English at Western. 

Jill Nelson, B.A., English - creative writing, owns a design studio, Pinwheel Creative, and is developing a creative writing magazine.  

Cindy Hollenbeck, M.A., English, is the director of Public Relations and Communications for the Graduate School at Washington State University. 

Cathlina Bergman, M.A., English, recently became the librarian for Newton High School in Kansas and is working on a Master of Library and Information Science degree at Emporia State University

Katherine Thomas, B.A., English and linguistics, is a freelance food writer and part-time paralegal in Bozeman. She recently wrote about a community food bank for Edible Bozeman. 

Jimmy Watts, B.A., English, is a Seattle firefighter who hand-crafts fly rods through his Shuksan Rod Co. Jimmy is also a writer whose essay about novelist David James Duncan was recently published in The Flyfish Journal

Cami Ostman, BAE, English/theatre, is the founder and director of The Narrative Project, which offers get-your-book-done courses. Cami is also the author of "Second Wind: One Woman’s Midlife Quest to Run Seven Marathons on Seven Continents," and the co-founder of Red Wheelbarrow Writers. 

Jayne Entwistle, B.A., English, narrates audiobooks for Penguin Random House, Scholastic, as well as local Bellingham authors. Jayne also has a recurring role on "Blockbuster," a Netflix series filmed in Vancouver, B.C.

Traci Hill Barela, M.Ed., English - secondary, teaches English at West Springfield High School in Fairfax, Virginia. Traci has lived and taught all over the world, in Athens, Helsinki, India, Bulgaria and Germany.