Writing Room staff, 2012-13

	Rachel Balzar Most teenaged girls manage to get their first kiss and their license by the time they turn 16. While Rachel Balzar accomplished neither of these things, she did manage to write a novel. Keeping this in mind, it’s only natural that she is fascinated by the transformative powers of editing, became an English major at UMM with zero hesitation, and still occasionally winds up sobbing the lyrics to "Jesus Take the Wheel" while trying to drive. Please rest assured: Rachel is much more confident (and competent) when it comes to experimenting with paragraph order and fine tuning the voice of a paper than she is with driving. She also promises not to sing any country songs if you come visit her in the Writing Room.
	Dani Brown One of Dani's very first tutoring experiences at her high school writing center found her sitting on the linoleum floor outside of the center's locked door at somewhere between 6 and 7 AM, trying to place her finger on the most delicate way to ask: "So, did you actually read the book?" Nowadays, Dani plans to tutor exclusively in the afternoons, and has no trouble asking the aforementioned question straight up. Though her first love is English, Dani is also a history major, and can therefore help you with papers from said discipline, and has excellent "anti-freak-out" skills that she would love to mentor you in if requested.
	Kourtni Danielson Kourtni is a junior English major also working towards a Spanish minor. When she is not busy searching high and low for some fried pickles or hoarding every packet of Crystal Light Wild Strawberry drink mix, she can be found stirring up a delicious mocha at Higbie’s coffee shop on campus. That or she may be providing answers to the most puzzling questions at the conjoining information desk as the head coordinator. This ever smiling optimist knows first-hand how chaotic the writing process can be, and therefore enjoys helping others find the light out of the dark tunnel of red pen marks during revisions. She is not afraid to pick up a sword and help defeat other monstrous obstacles one may meet in a piece of writing. She looks forward to helping relieve the tensions often associated with the writing process. Her two goals in life are to one day master the art of reading a book while simultaneously running on the treadmill and making others feel the most confident they can as a writer.
	Chris Ferrin A long time ago, Chris Ferrin was born. The details after this event are, like pipe cleaners, fuzzy at best. Although he is focused on completing his English major, his experience in community college has granted him a general background in philosophy, sociology, and creative writing. In his free time, he enjoys telling people that he is an English major, dancing angrily, and dreaming about space. His favorite Peanuts character is the girl with naturally curly hair, and his favorite pretentious music genre classification is post-dubstep. He is also quite well aware that the writing process can be a real drag sometimes, and wants to dedicate his life to helping people through it.
	Darcy Gabriel Darcy is a junior Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies/ Latin American Area Studies double major with a Spanish minor. Just because Darcy is frequently running around doing eight million things at once doesn't mean that there isn't time to work in the writing room! Darcy has always enjoyed writing and helping others figure out what they're trying to say. Darcy has written papers in English, GWSS, Sociology, History, and LAAS classes and is willing to work with writers within any discipline. Darcy's favorite books cannot be listed because choosing is painful; however, favorite children's books include: The Giver, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and the Circle of Magic series.
	Holly Gruntner Holly Gruntner created Harry Potter in early 1992, and was rather put out to find, years later, that a British woman had stolen her idea and written a book series worth billions of dollars. The lawsuit is pending. When not plotting revenge, Holly is usually writing something or other, ranging from blog posts to hangman clues to analytical theses. Though an English major, she is happy to talk about papers from any field.
	Kay Keegan Kay Keegan is a junior English major and Dance minor. She has a special affinity for creative endeavors in writing, but also enjoys helping students with research proposals, articles, and academic papers in any field. She is also really good at developing ideas for other people and annihilating writer’s block. Kay is a contributing writer to the University Register and has just finished the fifth draft of her first novel (longhand!), and is now in the process of typing it and trying not to throw up. She keeps her gag reflex at bay by using the same font as J.K. Rowling.
	Hannah Lindquist Hannah is a senior from Plymouth, MN, majoring in Environmental Studies and English. In the non-academic world, though not particularly fond of pickle relish, she pursues with relish activities such as knitting, walking outside, baking, and playing German-style board games. Included among her favorite children's books are Winnie-the-Pooh and Freight Train. Hannah is excited about working in the Writing Room, which has nothing to do with her second-favorite garden vegetable being asparagus.
	George/Anne Meyers-Welsch George/Anne Meyers-Welsch is a senior. An English major and philosophy minor, she's also interested in gender studies. She likes long walks in the prairie, peanut butter chocolate ice cream, taking cat naps, and writing poetry. She's excited to work in the writing room because she thinks writing can be really difficult and she wants to help other people breathe through it and eventually enjoy it.
	Annie Morphew Annie Morphew is a senior at UMM, so she can tell you that she doesn’t have any money. She is also majoring in history, so she can reasonably assume that she won’t have any money for a very long time. What she does have is a very particular set of skills—skills she has acquired over a very long career as a student. Skills that make her a nightmare for papers in a state of defiance at any step of the writing process. So if you’re having trouble coming up with ideas or you want help tweaking the structure of your paper or if your daughter has been kidnapped by European sex slavers, then do not hesitate to come and see her in the Writing Room where she hangs out a couple of times a week, helping the students of Morris defeat such adversaries as doubt, confusion, writer’s block, and grammar.
	Peter Ray Bio coming soon!
	Rose Schwietz A senior English major with a minor in French, Rose is excited to be alive and working in the Writing Room in the same semester. While she has the bare minimum of experience in almost every field imaginable with the exception of MySpace, her main interests include languages, music, astronomy, theater, and the Scottish bagpipes. She is a big fan of Shakespeare and grammar (particularly semicolons and parentheses) and has memorized all 8:33 minutes of Don McLean's "American Pie," but she will let it slide if these topics aren't on your to-like list. Most importantly though, Uncle Rose wants YOU to come to the Writing Room so she can help work through the writing process with you.
	Tisha Turk, Writing Room Director (on leave Spring 2013) Tisha teaches English courses at UMM. She likes writing a lot and has gotten pretty good at it over the years, but she also knows it can be a pain, so she's happy to commiserate with people who are feeling frustrated or stuck. Her PhD is in English literature, but she has experience working with writers in lots of different fields in the sciences and social sciences as well as humanities and education. She's the person to talk to for help with personal statements for graduate school, but she's also happy to help with ordinary papers for either intro or advanced classes. When she's not working in the Writing Room or teaching, she's usually reading, gardening, hanging out with her cats, baking really awesome brownies, rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or hitting refresh on Tumblr.