Tariq Brathwaite is a student at Middlesex Community College in Lowell and Bedford where he has been on the path of finding his dreams, which led him to the Creative Writing Concentration and his goal of creating stories. In his stories, he creates superheroes who live in worlds where they fight against evil. He hopes to inspire readers to discover their own morality and good will. He has lived in Lowell all of his life but soon wants to explore other sites where great writers came to be.
Neal Ferrera(he/him/his) is a twenty year old MCC student who lives outside of Boston. He uses poetry to explore his experiences suffering from anxiety and depression. Aside from writing, Neal loves learning about history and exploring analog horror.
Bridget Landers is 25 years old, and she is a blond-haired, blue-eyed, asexual-gay, autistic college student who doesn’t allow stereotypes to bring her down. She is also half-Dutch on her mother’s side and doesn’t like small monkeys.
Tom Laughlin is a professor and Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program at MCC. He was a founding editor of Vortext, a literary journal of Massasoit Community College, a volunteer staff reader for many years for Ploughshares, and he has taught literature classes in two Massachusetts prisons. His poetry has appeared in Green Mountains Review, Ibbetson Street, Drunk Monkeys, Sand Hills Literary Magazine, Pensive, Blue Mountain Review, and elsewhere. His poetry chapbook, The Rest of the Way, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2022. His website is www.TomLaughlinPoet.com
Alexandra “Lexi” Balevre Perry is a Creative Writing student from Lowell. She is graduating from MCC this semester (Spring 2023) and transferring to UMass Lowell in the fall 2023. Her work has been published in Venture Literary Magazine, Dead River Review – Issue #7, and in the 2023 La Guagua Poetry Anthology: The Path Belongs to Us. She is a frequent gatherer at the Lowell Poetry Wheel’s Untitled Open Mic and the Haverhill River Bards’ Poetry Series.
Claudio Sanchez is a student at Middlesex Community College. He is a contributor and editor of the Dead River Review.
Colby Scaplen is in his second year at Middlesex Community College working on a degree in Creative Writing. He spends most of his time dreaming about writing, but when he does occasionally write, he uses his ADHD to help him burst out his pessimistic critiques of the world using the most grotesque imagery imaginable. In real life, he has been described as a “himbo,” and to this day still has no idea what that means.
Olivia Steen is currently attending Middlesex Community College, majoring in Creative Writing. She spends her time writing, working at a bookstore, or daydreaming. She primarily writes poetry while dabbling in different types of creative writing. She hopes to write her own poetry book one day.
MacKenzie Taylor is a Radiologic Technology major at Middlesex Community College. Despite her love for health science, she has been heavily involved with writing poetry since she was very young. Her work can be seen in The Weight Journal, Teen Ink, Dead River Review, and is forthcoming in Ghost City Press.
Jared Waugh is twenty-two years old and (almost!) a life-long resident of Massachusetts, currently in his fourth year at Middlesex Community College. He is working towards earning an Associate Degree with a Creative Writing Concentration and enjoys exploring themes of science fiction, science fantasy, creative nonfiction, and found family. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, walking, hiking, and making lists of TV Shows that he should watch and books that he should read but likely won’t get around to for a while due to his commitments to academia. He is a firm believer that both comics and animation are mediums, not genres, and is an avid fan of both.
