Dan, Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Charleston, IL
Academic Areas of Interest: Creative writing and contemporary literature (whenever I can work it in)
Hobbies/interests: writing (stories, poems, drama, songs, essays, papers, grocery lists), reading, movies, and music. I have an obsession with Bruce Springsteen; it's not healthy.
Favorite aspect about writing: The possibilities. Sounds cliche, but it's true.
Aspect about writing loathed the most: Getting started. I love the possibilities, but coming up with a subject--or learning how to begin a subject--is the hardest part for me.
Admires most in other people’s writing: Sentence structure and word usage. Everybody's different.
Favorite punctuation mark: The semi-colon. I've been called a "semi-colon junkie." I assume they meant it in a good way.
Best advice about writing ever received: "Don't write what you know; write what you want." I think one of my instructors told me that; if not, I just made it up.
Favorite TV show and/or movie: TV Show: Either "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (American version) or "Family Guy." Movie: "No Country For Old Men" and/or "The Departed.

My top three favorite reads are… "Bag of Bones" by Stephen King; "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy; and "Collected Stories" by Raymond Carver.
My worst pet peeve is… whenever people cut in line. Unless they're with me.

Bryan, Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Savanna, IL & Iowa City, IA
Academic Areas of Interest: Modern/Post-Modern Literature & Culture, Philosophy, Film studies, Critical Theory
Hobbies/interests: Cooking, hiking, graphic novels, movies, video games, doodling.
Favorite aspect about writing: Creative communication.
Aspect about writing loathed the most: Editing.
Admires most in other people’s writing: Clear ideas and humor.
Favorite punctuation mark: Probably the comma, though I think I overuse it.
Best advice about writing ever received: Confess.
Favorite TV show/movie: The Qatsi Trilogy.

My top three favorite reads are… Douglas Adams, Harper's Magazine, Wikipedia
My worst pet peeve is…fnord!

Jamie V., Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Oakwood, IL
Academic Areas of Interest:Composition and rhetoric; gender, sexuality, and “hysteria” in the modern American novel; Pulp Fictions of the 1890s; modern and contemporary poetry
Hobbies/interests: Reading, writing, listening to music—like The Beatles, Neil Young, Iron and Wine, watching TV and movies, cooking/baking, sewing, and playing Scrabble
Favorite aspect about writing: I like being able to express myself in a well-planned out way, and I suppose I enjoy the beginning of the writing process the most when I'm just initially formulating ideas.
Aspect about writing loathed the most: Deadlines.
Admires most in other people’s writing: I admire people who can make a subject so interesting that I care about it when I normally wouldn't.
Favorite punctuation mark: I love the dash. I once had a professor tell me to "end my love affair with the dash," since I was apparently using it too frequently in my essay.
Best advice about writing ever received: Don’t ever argue for something that seems “obvious,” because there isn’t a point of contesting it in a paper if it doesn’t really need to be contested.
Favorite TV show/movie: I can’t just name one, but my favorite movies are Pulp Fiction, American Beauty, Knocked Up, Grizzly Man, The Mummy, Twister, Jurassic Park, Jaws, and Junebug. My favorite shows are The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Survivor, Top Chef, Project Runway, Lost, Flight of the Conchords, The Colbert Show, The Young and the Restless, The Office, and Arrested Development.

My top three favorite reads are… Revenge of the Lawn by Richard Brautigan, Into the Fire by Anne Stuart, and Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg.
My worst pet peeve is…gossip and people who are loud and sloppy eaters.

Laura, Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska
Academic Areas of Interest: Medieval Literature and Language, History of the English Language, Linguistics, British Literature
Hobbies/interests: Comic books, Documentaries, Cooking
Favorite aspect about writing: Getting to record my thought development throughout time.
Aspect about writing loathed the most: Revising
Admires most in other people’s writing: The ability for some writers to create a balance in that their writing is both educational and entertainment.
Favorite punctuation mark: The colon.
Best advice about writing ever received: Learn the rules first, then you can break them.
Favorite TV show/movie: Lost and Star Trek

My top three favorite reads are… Alice and Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll; Ishmael by Daniel Quinn; Paradise Lost by John Milton
My worst pet peeve is…People chewing with their mouths open.

Donica, Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Urbana, IL
Academic Areas of Interest: Medieval and Early Modern British literature, especially drama, my tentative thesis focus is on Elizabethan court masques
Hobbies/interests: Reading (obviously), singing, spending time with family, and vacationing (I love to travel)
Favorite aspect about writing: Revision!
Aspect about writing loathed the most: getting started
Admires most in other people’s writing: everyone has their own writing style that is as unique as their fingerprints
Favorite punctuation mark: the exclamation point! when used sparingly...
Best advice about writing ever received: the first draft is NEVER the final draft
Favorite TV show/movie: Stargate SG-1 is my new obsession

My top three favorite reads are… The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, particularly Memnoch the Devil, anything Shakespeare, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short stories.
My worst pet peeve is…when people chomp their food loudly and it has to be food, gum chewing doesn't bother me

Jamie P., Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Tuscola, IL
Academic Areas of Interest: American and British Modernist Literature, Gender Studies, Postcolonial
Hobbies/interests: Movies, music, cooking
Favorite aspect about writing:The opportunity to gather my thoughts and express myself in a way that I cannot with just speech.
Aspect about writing loathed the most: The process of actually sitting down and having to put words on paper.
Admires most in other people’s writing: Vivid description without being overindulgent.
Favorite punctuation mark: The comma.
Best advice about writing ever received: Write what you know.
Favorite TV show/movie: The Office, Annie Hall

My top three favorite reads are… Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
My worst pet peeve is…narrow-mindedness.

Chris, Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Minooka, IL
Academic Areas of Interest: Creative Writing, British Romanticism
Hobbies/interests: There are so many things. I think I will just pick some randoms. I like playing NBA Jam on the Genesis. I like the flavor blue and yes, it is a flavor. I enjoy the movies on the Sci-Fi channel that are so bad that they are good. I have a love-hate relationship with the sun.
Favorite aspect about writing: The creativity. Anything I can think of can happen.
Aspect about writing loathed the most: Loathe is such a strong word. I do not enjoy writing introductions. I do not enjoy writing conclusions. But that does not mean I "loathe" those aspects.
Admires most in other people’s writing: The creativity. I love seeing what other writers can come up with.
Favorite punctuation mark: "{" What is that thing? It looks like a mustache.
Best advice about writing ever received: 1. Write what you know. 2. Show don't tell.
Favorite TV show/movie: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for tv and for movies, how about . . . The Muppet Movie.

My top three favorite reads are… Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and The Once and Future King by T.H. White.
My worst pet peeve is…having a lot of pet peeves.

Mary, Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
Academic Areas of Interest: Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies
Hobbies/interests: reading, writing, watching TV, and a smattering of other varied interests.
Favorite aspect about writing: the sense of accomplishment that comes with completing each part.
Aspect about writing loathed the most: Proofreading my own writing. Look at it long enough, and anything can look “right.”
Admires most in other people’s writing: All the different ideas and how they are voiced.
Favorite punctuation mark: periods – although the question mark makes a close second.
Best advice about writing ever received: “Be flexible.”
Favorite TV show and/or movie: I don’t know that I have a favorite TV show, but I have several that I watch – including Stargate: Atlantis, Dead Like Me, Mythbusters, The Sentinel and Stargate: SG-1. Again, with movies, I have several – and no one favorite. Some of the movies I watch are Stargate, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and The Princess Bride.

My top three favorite reads are… constantly changing. Right now, they probably include The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and the Harry Potter series. I also have a fondness for Green Rider by Kristin Britian at the moment.
My worst pet peeve is…when I feel like I should be hitting my head against a brick wall (or any other solid surface).

Ashok, Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Nawalparasi, Nepal
Academic Areas of Interest: Twentieth century African American literature, Asian American literature, Postcolonial literature and theory, issues of Race and Ethnicity, and writing
Hobbies/interests:
Favorite aspect about writing: My favorite aspect of writing is the ability to use imaginative and creative faculty and create totally different kind of world. Writing has its didactic purpose; we can use it not only to talk about what the world is but also view how the world should be.
Aspect about writing loathed the most: It is very difficult to find the answer to this question because I entertain every aspect of writing. Sometimes, I find boring to proofread the written text, but it does not mean that I hate the proofreading aspect.
Admires most in other people’s writing: I admire lively description of different cultures in other people’s writing.
Favorite punctuation mark: Semi-colon
Best advice about writing ever received: “The more you write, the better your writing will be.”
Favorite TV show and/or movie: Disha Dirdesh (Nepali TV show). Dachhina (Nepali movie).

My top three favorite reads are… Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
My worst pet peeve is… People who always criticize others.

John S., Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown: Lemont, IL
Academic Areas of Interest: 19th Century American litarature, Post-Modern and Contemporary literature
Hobbies/interests: Frolf
Favorite aspect about writing: Little tricks and mechanics
Aspect about writing loathed the most: The Introduction
Admires most in other people’s writing: Ingenuity
Favorite punctuation mark: -
Best advice about writing ever received: "Write what you know and take chances" - Sean Clark, though he may have stole it from someone else.
Favorite TV show/movie: Favoirte TV show - Lost ; Favorite movie - Big Fish

My top three favorite reads are… 1) 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia-Marquz ; 2) A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess ; 3) What is the What? - Dave Eggers
My worst pet peeve is…Redundancy

John K., Graduate Assistant and Consultant

Hometown:
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Aspect about writing loathed the most:
Admires most in other people’s writing:
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My top three favorite reads are…
My worst pet peeve is…

Hometown: I was born in Rhode Island, but raised in southern California. I came to EIU from Santa Barbara, CA, where my kids were born, but I’ve been here since 1990, so when I’m in California and people ask where I’m from, I say east central Illinois
Academic Areas of Interest: Youth Literature, Modern American Fiction, Writing Center Practice
Hobbies/interests: I’m interested in people with hobbies and interests.
Favorite aspect about writing: revising
Aspect about writing loathed the most: getting started
Admires most in other people’s writing: Liveliness
Favorite punctuation mark: the long dash (my sentences are so long that I need all the punctuation there is)
Best advice about writing ever received: You can often take out the word “that” (a consultant trained in journalism pointed this out to me)
Favorite TV show and/or movie: TV show: 30 Rock; movie:The Great Race (best pie-fight ever filmed)

My top three favorite reads are… the last two books I taught and the audiobook I’m listening to right now.
My worst pet peeve is… the distinction between “less” and “fewer”: there is less flour (since flour is something you measure), but there are fewer flowers (since you can count them).

Dr. Tim Taylor, Director

Hometown: Waterloo, Iowa
Hobbies/Interests: Gardening, Cooking, College Football, Fantasy Baseball
Academic Areas of Interest: Rhetoric, Composition Studies, Professional Writing, Writing Center Administration and Practice, Composition Theory and Pedagogy
Favorite aspect about writing: Discovering what I think through the act of writing
Aspect about writing loathed the most: Self doubt
Admires most in other people’s writing: Concision
Favorite punctuation mark: The em dash
Best advice about writing ever received: Two good ones: “Learning how to write is learning how to revise” and “Cut the fluff.”
Favorite TV show and/or movie: I’m a fan of The Office and True Blood (current tv shows), and I’ve always liked Love and Death by Woody Allen (movie).

My top three favorite reads are… The Mind at Work by Mike Rose, Composition-Rhetoric by Robert Connors, and The Culture of Denial by C.A. Bowers.
My worst pet peeve is… when people use the word “we” when they really mean “you."