Education
Master of Fine Arts, Nonfiction, Saint Mary’s College of California, Moraga, California 2006 – 2008
- Thesis: Weekend Warrior: Life in the Army Reserves
- Thesis Advisor: Wesley Gibson
Command and General Staff College, United States Army, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 2000-2004 (Low-Residency Program/Diploma)
Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Humanities(English), Education, and Psychology with Minor in Military Science University of Central Florida, Florida, 1984
Awards, Distinctions, Fellowships & Residencies
- Recipient – 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award, California Department of Veterans Affairs
- Residency, Napa Valley Writers Conference, 2013 (w/ Camille T. Dungy)
- Residency, Veterans Writing Workshop, Veterans Writing Project with George Washington University Writing Program. 2013 (w/ Joseph Bathanti)
- California Veteran of the Year, District 18, 2012
- Finalist, Shewrites Passion Project, 2010. (291 entries, short listed to final 18.) http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/decisions-decisions-why-did
- Residency, Lambda Literary Foundation Emerging Writers Retreat 2007 (w/ Eloise Healy)
- MFA Advisory Board Scholarship, Saint Mary’s MFA Program 2007-2008
- Quail Book Award, Saint Mary’s MFA Program 2006
Research Interests / Works in Progress
- Other Mommy.Narrative and prose poem poetry collection exploring the experience of the non-biological mother in a same gender family.
- Weekend Warrior. A collection of sonnets with narrative arc that reflects a woman’s desires, goals, achievements and tribulations as a soldier in the American military.
- Sister in Arms. Memoir in essay form documenting a career in the armed forces in peace and war.
Teaching and Management Experience
University of San Francisco Women’s Rugby Team, Head Coach. 2015 – present.
Assessed, planned, conducted and evaluated training sessions and competition for team of 25+ athletes; provided mentoring and advisement to student leadership, supervise and develop coaching staff. Provide skill instruction, tactical and strategic rugby development and promote positive sport and lifelong values.
Saint Mary’s College of California Women’s Rugby Team, Head Coach. 2014 – 2015
Assessed, planned, conducted and evaluated training sessions and competition for team of 25+ athletes; provided mentoring and advisement to student leadership. (Volunteer)
Life West Chiropractic College Gladiators Men’s Rugby Team, Assistant Coach. 2013 – 2014.
Assessed, planned, conducted and evaluated training sessions and competition for team of 40+ athletes, and managed logistical requirements. (Volunteer)
Battalion Commanding Officer, 2010-2012. Command an Army Reserve battalion, simultaneously prepare for wartime deployment, train, exercise, and evaluate for peacetime and operational missions, and ensure individual soldier reintegration post conflict deployment. Provide guidance and oversight for all training, administrative, and operational employment of sections, teams, and individuals in the military police and information operations specialties. Supervise and mentor approximately 18 combined civilian and military staff and subordinate commanders. Brief, provide recommendations and assessments to higher headquarters senior and executive level commanders. Train and mentor assigned officers.
Operations and Training Officer, 2006-2010. Plan, implement, and evaluate an Army Reserve Brigade’s training and operations, provide oversight to several dozen subordinate unit training and operations sections for more than two dozen subordinate units with total personal greater than 2500, mentor and supervise a combined military and civilian full time staff of 12, provide assessment and recommendations to the Commanding General Officer, conduct train the trainer sessions and staff and leadership training of junior officers, provide oversight for training and operations of units concurrently in inactive, pre mobilization, and post mobilization status.
Combined Military Services Women’s Rugby Select Side (All-Star team), Assistant Coach, 1997-2000. (Volunteer)
Assessed, planned, conducted and evaluated training sessions and competition for team of 32+ athletes. Managed logistical requirements. Wrote, edited and published team newsletter.
United States Army Military Police School Instructor, 1993-1995
Assess, plan, conduct and evaluate military police student training and classroom instruction.
Heald Business College, Gainesville, Florida
Instructor
Spring 1995
Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology
Introduction to the structure and function of the human organ systems. Designed to provide a basic understanding of the human body, identify bone structures, and knowledge of associated terminology. Required for all medical field students.
Introduction to Business Practices
Introduction to basic principles and practices for small business owners.
Summer 1995
Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology
Introduction to the structure and function of the human organ systems. Designed to provide a basic understanding of the human body, identify bone structures, and knowledge of associated terminology. Required for all medical field students.
Introduction to Business Practices
Introduction to basic principles and practices for small business owners.
Human Nutrition
Introduction to the science of nutrition. Major topics include digestion and metabolism, the six major classes of nutrients, nutrition through the lifespan, energy balance, and nutrition and disease. Emphasis placed on the physiological and biochemical relationship between food and the human body. Requested to design this course, created syllabus, researched and selected texts, was the sole instructor first semester course was offered.
University of Florida Women’s Rugby Club, Head Coach 1992 – 1994 (Volunteer)
Assessed, planned, conducted and evaluated training sessions and competition for team of 37 athletes and supervised two assistant coaches. During tenure, team won Southeastern Championship and placed 4th in the United States Eastern Regional Championships.
TGIFriday’s Restaurant, Gainesville, Florida 1993
In-store Instructor responsible for new kitchen employee instruction and certification in sanitation, basic station skills, specialty recipes and procedures. Assess and evaluate kitchen staff training needs.
United States Army Reserve, Training Non-commissioned Officer
1982 – 1984
Plan and conduct training and instruction, assess and evaluate student (Soldier) training needs.
Field Experience/Internship while Undergraduate, University of Central Florida
Red Bug Elementary, Orlando, Florida 1983-1984
Fall, Spring Semesters
(Often requested to substitute teach in addition to scheduled field hours.)
Professional/Instructor Training
United States Rugby Coaching Certification Level III. 2014
Certified Instructor and Small Group Leader, United States Army 1993-1995
Certified Instructor, TGIF Restaurant Corporation, 1993-1995
Certified, YMCA swim instructor, 1983-1984
Teaching Interests
Military/war/conflict, LGBT, Women, Parenting, Writing, Massage Therapy, Rugby
Presentations and Publications
Presentations
First Impressions: How a Critique Group Helps You Do Your Best Work, San Francisco Writers Conference 2015, (With Zoe FitzGerald Carter, Cynthia Frank, with Tanya Egan Gibson as moderator), San Francisco, CA.
Critique Groups: Creating a Writing Family to Take Your Work to New Heights, San Francisco Writers Conference 2013, (With Tanya Egan Gibson and Zoe FitzGerald Carter), San Francisco, CA.
Writer 101: Dream to Reality, California Women Veterans Leadership Conference 2012, Sacramento, CA.
Making Your Work Rejection Proof: Joining or Starting a Critique Group and Rules for Critique, San Francisco Writers Conference 2012 (With Tanya Egan Gibson), San Francisco, CA.
Everyone’s A Critic: The Power of Critique Groups, San Francisco Writers Conference 2011 (With Tanya Egan Gibson), San Francisco, CA.
Why Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions: How to Start or Join a Critique Group, San Francisco Writers Conference 2010 (With Cindy Pavlinac and Marcia Naomi Berger), San Francisco, CA.
Poetry
“When Jenny Comes Marching Home.” O-Dark-Thirty, Summer Special Edition 2014
“Daughter.” Mom Egg: Vox Mom, June 23, 2014.
“Trigeminal Neuralgia, a Neurological Condition.” Ditch, the poetry that matters, August 2013.
“Passage.” Ditch, the poetry that matters, August 2013.
Pulitzer Remix 2013, a project of The Found Poetry Review. Creation of found poems from a Pulitzer prize winning fiction book. One poem for each day during National Poetry Month, using the 1970 prize winning book. Thirty poems were created. April 2013.
“Stone Upon My Heart.” Bay Laurel Online Journal, Winter 2012 1.2 (December 2012)
Various Haiku in Wave of Sorrow: Poems Written in Response to the Japanese Earthquake, edited by Janet Parfitt, April 2011
“Bedding.” Housefire, Housefire Books, (2012)
“Trigeminal Neuralgia.” Back Room Live, March 28, 2009.
“Social::Drinker.” Back Room Live, March 28, 2009.
“Bosnia 1996.” In Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks, from Vietnam to Iraq, edited by Lisa Bowden & Shannon Cain, Tucson: Kore Press, 2008
“Challenge.” In More Bridges: The 2007 San Francisco Writer Conference Anthology, edited by Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada, New York, Lincoln, Shanghai: iUniverse Inc. 2007
Nonfiction
“San Francisco Women’s Eagles National Recruitment Festival.” Rugby America. May 21, 2015
“Call Up.” O Dark Thirty’s The Report. May 21
“Family Support: Then and Now.” OutServe Magazine, 3.1, May/June 2013. Print
“Doctor Dominatrix.” Bluestem Literary Journal, 23.2, March (Spring) 2013
“War Cats.” Adanna Literary Journal Women and War Issue, March 2013. Print.
No Red Pen: Writers, Writing Groups & Critique, Createspace, February 2012. Print
No Red Pen: Writers, Writing Groups & Critique, Smashwords, January 2012. Ebook
“Life.” How Did Reading Save You? Tanya Egan Gibson, 2012.
Chow, Smashwords, February 2011. Ebook
“How to Give Good Feedback.” The Writer Magazine, May 2011. 8. Print
“How to Give Good Feedback.” The Writer Magazine Online, April 12, 2011.
“Convoy Day.” In Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks, from Vietnam to Iraq, edited by Lisa Bowden & Shannon Cain, Tucson: Kore Press, 2008
“Camp Courage, Iraq, Looking Out From Tower Ten.” Back Room Live, 1.1 (2008): 17. Print
“Apples.” In More Bridges: The 2007 San Francisco Writer Conference Anthology, edited by Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada, New York, Lincoln, Shanghai: iUniverse Inc., 2007
“What Was it Like.” Milvia Street Art and Literary Journal, (2005): 48-52. Print
Commentary/Guest Blog Posts
“I Remember.” Military Partners and Families Coalition, September 20, 2014.
“Badge of Honor.” Military Partners and Families Coalition, September 3, 2014.
“Being Your Authentic Self.” Military Partners and Families Coalition, October 13, 2012.
“Obsolete Tools in the Writer’s Critique Toolbox.” Write Nonfiction Now! Nina Amir, March 20, 2013.
“Chaplains: Force Multiplier or Force Distractor?” OutServe Magazine Blog, November 23, 2012.
“Why Our Family is Fighting DOMA.” Advocate.com, November 2011.
“X Then Y – Resolving Relationship Conflict.” Love Explained, NadirahAngail.com, March 20, 2011.
“Love and Money – Partners of Roommates.” Commitment Advice, January 26, 2010.
Fiction
“Captain Harper Says Goodbye.” Bay Laurel Online Journal, Winter 2012 1.2 (December 2012)
“Secret Ingredient.” In Flashback 2010 A Collection of Very, Very Short Stories, Edited by Anne van Alkemade, Cathryn Swanson and Chris Freeman; Murphwrite, 2010
“Wyoming.” A Special Fifty States Project, Ballyhoo Stories The Blog, March 11, 2007.
Book Reviews
Paradise Drive by Rebecca Foust, Poets’ Quarterly (22 August 2015)
L Is for Lion: An Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir by Annie Rachele Lanzillotto, Sacramento Book Review (April 2013)
Old MacDonald Had a Farm – A Golden Book, Sacramento Book Review (April 2013)
Gathering Strength: Conversations with Afghan Women by Peggy Kelsey, Sacramento Book Review, April 2013
Crown of Vengeance by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, San Francisco Book Review, March 2013
The CV Book 2nd ed.: Your definitive guide to writing the perfect CV (2nd Edition) by James Innes, San Francisco Book Review, March 2013
Prisoner B-3087 by Ruth Gruener, Jack Gruener and Alan Gratz, San Francisco Book Review, March 2013
The Seraph Contingency by Jennifer Fales, San Francisco Book Review, March 2013
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor, San Francisco Book Review, March 2013
Code 15 by Gary Birken, San Francisco Book Review, 1.7 (March 2010)
Wow It’s a Cow by T. Harris, J.R. Harris, San Francisco Book Review, 1.7 (March 2010)
A Tired Woman’s Guide to Passionate Sex: Reclaim Your Desire and Reignite Your Relationship by Laurie B. Mintz, Sacramento Book Review 2.6 (February 2010)
Helping Baby Sleep: The Science and Practice of Gentle Bedtime Parenting by Dr. Anni Gethin and Beth Macgregor, Sacramento Book Review 2.3 (November 2009)
Dog Rules by Kyra Sundance, Sacramento Book Review 1.9 (May 2009)
Professional Affiliations
Association of Writers & Writing Programs
California Writers Club, Berkeley Branch
National Writers Union
National Book Critics Circle National Association of Independent Writers and Authors