Amna Sheikh, Editor
My name is Amna Sheikh and I’m a junior at Gallatin. I’m concentrating on Narrative Medicine with a minor in Chemistry. Through my studies, I hope to incorporate elements of narrative storytelling and archival work to medical practice.
I first got involved in adult education through an elective I took called “Race, Social Justice, and Adult Literacy,” with Dianne Ramdeholl. Through the class, I was able to learn about and tutor ESL classes, which was a field I never envisioned myself encountering. Since then, I’ve become very interested in how storytelling can produce knowledge. I also frequently think about how the curriculum we engage with as students, shapes us and our minds, which makes my time at Gallatin all the more special.
I’ve been involved with the Literacy Review since my first year at Gallatin, so becoming an Editor has been so exciting and meaningful.
Ava Filan, Photographer
My name is Ava Filan and I am a sophomore at Gallatin. I am currently studying literary modernity, historical and global politics, critical and visual theory. I hope to explore themes of power in particular contexts, political and historical, and how this manifests concretely into the way we interact with the world. This is my first year doing photography for the Literary Review. At Gallatin, I am involved in Embodied Magazine as the Photo Editor on E-Board as well as a Gabler Writing Partner. I am so excited to be a part of the design for the Literary Review and look forward to working on the next publication!
Amelia Horrell, Editor
I’m a senior from Maryland by way of many other places, most lately Ireland and Rhode Island. My concentration, Greek Antiquity and Adaptation, focuses on the importance of classics in modern education, the method and significance of adaptation, and how constructed historical narratives can be resisted or affirmed. In addition to being an editor on LR, I am an RA and part-time barista. In my free time, I like to listen to the same albums on repeat; occasionally I will lie in the dappled sunlight beneath a tree as a breeze ruffles the leaves above. After graduation, I plan to hang out with my family’s cats and to learn how to drive.
Dagny Edwards, Editor
My name is Dagny Edwards and I’m a senior at Gallatin concentrating in Language, Curation, and Ethics. I’ve served on the Editorial Board since my freshman year, and it’s been exciting to take on a more comprehensive role as a main Editor for LR22. I’m also a managing poetry editor at the Gallatin Review, an Undergraduate Humanities Fellow at the NYU Center for the Humanities, and an independent writer and musician. I was a featured panelist and moderator at the NYU Conference for Undergraduate Arts Research and have kept personal journals every day of my life for the past four years and counting! I’ll be staying in New York after graduation, working for a prominent painter and pursuing exciting literary and musical opportunities.
Eleanor Macagba, Editor
My name is Eleanor Macagba and I’m from Brooklyn. I am a current junior studying environmental studies, decolonial studies, and literature. I’ve been involved with the NYU Gallatin Writing Program for a while, serving on the editorial board of the Literacy Review since my freshman year and as an editor for Confluence. Outside of NYU, I manage a pantry in the Lower East Side. In my free time, I like reading science-fiction and fantasy novels, crocheting, and getting sweet treats.
As someone who grew up in Brooklyn, I have a soft spot for the Brooklyn Public Libraries. Fun fact: a few months ago, I completed the Brooklyn Public Library’s Browse the Branches challenge, where I visited every single BPL location (for a total of around 62 locations)!
Isabella V. Wolfe, Editor
My name is Isabella Victoria Wolfe and I am from Sacramento, California. I am a sophomore studying Linguistics and Law.
On the rare occasion that I have spare time, I like to read speculative fiction and play solitaire (with cards); I think online solitaire takes the fun out of learning to shuffle. My favorite activity to do in New York City is walking while playing the Mario Kart, Super star theme song, and pretending that each shove from a passerby is minus 10 points; I start with 200. If I manage to keep all my points by 5:00 pm, I reward myself with a cheese danish! I also take part in a monthly candy raid at the NYU Linguistics building. If you haven’t noticed, I have a bit of a sweet tooth, but I digress.
And lastly, in addition to the Literacy Review, I am also the co-managing Editor for the Gallatin Review’s Prison Education Program and a 2024 Gallatin Global Human Rights Fellow. I plan on working with a non-profit this summer, on educational resources for endangered languages!
Lauren Nicole Balser, Editor-in-Chief
As a senior at Gallatin, I concentrate in Digital Sociology with a minor in Media, Culture, and Communication; my concentration explores how we negotiate and actualize visibility, identity, and community in the digital age. In addition to serving as the Editor in Chief of The Literacy Review, I am the Editor in Chief of Embodied Magazine and a co-editor of a fan studies collection. I am also a Gabler Writing Partner, a Dean’s Honor Scholar, and a recipient of the Rahul Hamid Award for Community Spirit for the Class of 2024. In my spare time, you can find me trying to befriend every bodega cat in the East Village and crossing state lines to watch people play Dungeons & Dragons in venues far too historical for it. After graduation, I will pursue an MA in Media, Culture, and Technology at the University of Virginia.
Nathalia Velasco Herrera, Designer
My name is Nathalia Velasco Herrera and I was born between the border of San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico to a doctor and an artist. Growing up and crossing the border every day meant that both sets of cultures were and still are deeply hardwired into who I am.
I am a driven person, with a keen fondness for artistic practices such as painting, writing, and even glassblowing, but most of all, I am a young woman with a profound weakness for my family and my loved ones. Everything I do is inspired by them, and everything I make is a reflection of the love they have shown me. Coming into college I knew one thing, and one thing only, I needed to write. Very quickly and very naturally I found myself submerged in the opportunities granted by the Writing Program here at Gallatin, thanks to Professor June Foley. Truly I do not think I would be the person I am today if I had not taken Writers on Writing as my first year writing seminar.
Working as a Designer for, The Literacy Review, has opened my eyes as to what my passions are, it has allowed me to work with kind, gifted, and hardworking people, and I am forever grateful for what has been the best job of my life. Truly, there is nothing more exciting and more beautiful that I have been able to work on in the past four years than this.