Windward Review Vol. 20 (2022): Beginnings and Endings

Emily Hargitai is an English and History teacher with an MFA in Creative Writing. She enjoys
writing stories about writing stories and currently has about twelve gray hairs. She spends
her free time wondering who put them there and strongly suspects it was you. Yes, you.
Natasha Haas is a student at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She is an English
major with an emphasis in Literary Studies. She fell in love with poetry while studying for
her Network Administration and Information Security degree at Del Mar College. Natasha
is a Student Worker at the Mary and Jeff Bell Library where she assists her patrons
with the library’s resources and general research guidance. In September 2020 she was
selected by the CAHSI Women in Computing Sciences to attend the Great Minds in STEM
Conference where she participated in workshop events held by tech industry leaders.
Natasha is currently a member of TAMU-CC’s Honors Program and is collaborating with
her peers to improve her communities’ water pollution problem. In her free time, Natasha
cares for her vegetable garden and enjoys watching Pop Culture films with her wife, Bianca.
She also enjoys baking peanut butter treats for her two rescue dogs, Molly and Daisy. She
will deny that she loves spoiling her cat, Asuka, rotten. After graduation, she plans to
pursue a master’s degree in English. Natasha hopes to have a career where she can use her
writing to help those who grew up like she did.
Robin Latimer has been writing poetry and
essays since she was able to use a pencil. She
has degrees in English and in Education from
Duke University and Lamar University and
graduated in Spring 2022 from UT-El Paso’s
online Creative Writing MFA. Her thesis was
directed by Andrea Cote-Botero and Daniel
Chacon, as well as Roger D. Jones from
Texas State University. A recent publication
appeared in Cape Rock ( “Effigy” 2019).
El Paso native Amairani Llerena is a mother,
self-proclaimed poet, artist, published model
and all around creator. She is currently working
on her BA in creative writing at the University
of Texas in El Paso, though motherhood has
slowed the progression. “We are on no one’s
timeline but our own. Embrace your present
moment and lavish in the goodness of it, even
when there’s not much there—for it is in
goodness and gratitude that we learn to grow.”
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Charity
McCoy (22) is a student-creative who enjoys
journaling and writing poetry about social
issues and love. Also enrolled at Texas A&M
University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC),
Charity is pursuing a Bachelor’s in Healthcare
Administration with a minor in sociology.
Though the two disciplines differ in many
respects, Charity values how both areas enable
her to depict the complexities of the human
experience and advocate for those who cannot
speak for themselves.
Tiffany Lindfield is a social worker by
day, trade, and heart who advocates
for climate justice, gender equality, and
animal welfare. By night she is a prolific
writer and reader of anything decent.
John C. Mannone has poems in
Windhover, North Dakota Quarterly,
Poetry South, Baltimore Review, and
others. He won the Impressions of
Appalachia Creative Arts Contest in
poetry (2020), the Carol Oen Memorial
Fiction Prize (2020), and the Joy
Margrave Award (2015, 2017) for
creative nonfiction. He was awarded
a Jean Ritchie Fellowship (2017) in
Appalachian literature and served as
the celebrity judge for the National
Federation of State Poetry Societies
(2018). His full-length collections are
Disabled Monsters (Linnet’s Wings
Press, 2015); Flux Lines: The Intersection
of Science, Love, and Poetry (Linnet’s
Wings Press, 2021); Sacred Flute (Iris
Press, 2022); and Song of the Mountains
(Middle Creek Publications, 2023). He
edits poetry for Abyss & Apex and other
journals. A retired physics professor,
John lives in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Arik Mitra lives in Kolkata, India. An
IT professional, he has been writing
for three years now. He writes mainly
short stories and poetry in English and
Bengali (mother tongue). His work has
been published by Clarendon House
Publications, Red Penguin Books, Rosey
Ravelston Books-Dyst Journal, Writers and
Reader’s Magazine and more.
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