Meet our talented family of teachers—each an accomplished writer and trustworthy guide. Leaf through our faculty bios, profiles, book excerpts, and writing advice articles. You’ll like the people you meet.
N. West Moss

Faculty Profile

Meet N. West Moss

My mother gave me a filing cabinet for my 7th birthday. That should tell you what a bookworm and writer I’ve been since the beginning.

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Joe Okonkwo

Faculty Profile

Meet Joe Okonkwo

Joe Okonkwo spent his fortieth birthday in Mexico City, binge-watching American reality TV shows in his hotel room because he felt he “hadn’t accomplished anything.”

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I'll probably go back to them many times over the coming years.

Ranjan Das, vice president, software company

Faculty Excerpts

<em>The Patron Saint of Cauliflower </em>

The Patron Saint of Cauliflower

Elizabeth Cohen
Borscht caraway, paprika, cumin, fresh dillin short, empty in the whole spice rackblack pepper, allspice, thymepluck the garden clean of root vegetablesgarlic, onion, a dozen beetsthen gently shake in a century of runningthe blood hue of a fresh pogramsoak in...
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<em>Sex and the City and Us</em>

Sex and the City and Us

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
I left my fiancé for Sex and the City.At the time, in the early 2000s, I was in my late twenties. I didn’t know who I was, and it showed. One day I was wearing a striped sweater and beige...
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Faculty Articles

Elane Johnson

In Defense of the Oxford Comma

Elane Johnson
Less than one-third of a second. Can you comprehend that length of time? One-third of a second is a tad less than the time it takes to say the word one or two or three, in “one one-thousand, two one-thousand,...
Alanna Schubach

​How to Write the Personal Statement for College Applications

Alanna Schubach
If you’re seeing your high schooler through the college application process for the first time, you’ll probably find that few aspects of the process fill them with as much dread as penning the personal statement.It makes sense: The personal statement,...