Masthead

Blake is a dry-humored poet slowly attempting to take over the student media publications while double majoring in Psychology and Creative Writing at WCU. They’re also Head Editor of The Gadfly, the university’s satire magazine. They write poetry that’s like normal poetry except written by someone who knows too many synonyms for “blood,” and they intend to be around for the heat death of the universe, just for fun.

Jess is a writer, artist, and student, at WCU who is majoring in English. She is passionate about all types of literature and loves to delve into every possible genre presented to her. She likes to spend her time reading, writing, being outdoors, and planning for/playing in her Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

If “graphic design is my passion” were a person, it’d be Gabby. She’s a graphic design student at WCU with a love for visual art and all things typography. She’s interned at a creative ad agency, rebranded a nonprofit, designed murals, and even built a typeface inspired by an abandoned house on campus. These days, she designs for WCU’s Tech Commons, the university’s marketing team, and The Nomad. Outside of design, you’ll usually find her rafting, chasing live music, or binging How I Met Your Mother (again).

Your favorite three dogs in a trenchcoat, Austin is a writer and artist who is passionate for the obscure and indescribable. He is currently a senior at WCU majoring in English (gay) and minoring in Film Studies (even more gay), and hopes to one day direct and create his own short film. His writing primarily focuses in creative nonfiction and poetry, with a particular interest in candid and canid works.

Tori is a writer, artist, and avid fan of horror and science fiction films (the campier, the better)! She is a Senior majoring in English Studies with a minor in Creative Writing. She also happens to be the Public Relations Manager of WCU’s English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta, helping build the recently added chapter from the ground up. With an interest in writing double meanings into her works and experimenting with abstract narrative formatting, it’s no wonder poetry is her passion! In her free time, she likes to read romantic gothic novels, work on her analog-horror inspired Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and draw at night until she’s too tired to realize that the sun has already risen.

Ashleigh Bryant Phillips is an Assistant Professor in English Studies at WCU. Her collection, SLEEPOVERS, won the C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize and the Towson Prize for Literature. Ashleigh’s short stories have appeared in the Paris Review, the Oxford American, and the Southwest Review. She earned her MFA from UNCW. 

Alice Martin is an Assistant Professor of English Studies at Western Carolina University. She received her PhD in American Literature from Rutgers University. Her writing has appeared in the Carolina Quarterly, Appalachian Heritage, Triangle House Review, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, Westward Women, is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press in March 2026.