THOMAS BEHNKE (1963-2022)

held various editing positions and was a contributing writer for The Meridian, Lehman’s newspaper, and had poetry published in Obscura, Lehman’s literary magazine. He also authored a weekly blog on writing on Obscura’s Squarespace page. He previously had poetry and essays published in small press magazines including Talebones, Connections, and Gathering Darkness, as well as a story published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude. His play, Volts and Ohms was produced as part of the New Voices: The Student Playwriting Festival in Fall of 2021. He planned to pursue his MFA in Creative Writing. He passed away in August 2022. Read a tribute to him in The Meridian here.

SHANIKA CUTHBERT
is a first generation American and first generation college graduate. Her concentration is creative writing and her minor is psychology. She loves the human mind and believes that understanding why people think the way they do will help her with the development of fictional characters. She started off writing songs and short stories based off of her love for fairy tales. She then transitioned into poetry in high school. She thought she wanted to be a psychiatrist until her 10th grade English teacher told her that “If you do what you love, the money will follow.” That’s when she knew that she had to purse her dreams as a writer. Almost having that dream taken away after being diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome in 2018, Shanika was able to overcome that and enroll into Lehman College as a transfer student in 2020. After her first semester she made it into the English Honors Program where she has successfully completed her Honors thesis and achieved Summa Cum Laude.

NICOLE FLORES
is a senior double majoring in Honors English Literature and Philosophy. She is Assistant Program Coordinator at the Lehman College Wellness Center. The aim of her work is to foster a culture of health and well-being on campus as well as to empower students to make healthy, informed choices. Nicole believes strongly that activism and education are inextricably linked. Her focus is further eliminating the stigma around mental health, especially in Hispanic/underserved communities. She plans to pursue a Ph.D once she graduates. In her free time, she loves to read and write as well as cuddle with her two cats.

KABRIEN GATHERS
is an English Honors major specializing in Creative Writing. He has a passion for writing scripts for film, television, and theater. During his time at Lehman, Kabrien has submitted several pieces of writing to the school's magazine Obscura. He is also the 2022 recipient of the Jacob Hammer Memorial Prize for Playwriting for his script titled The People v The Flying Thunder Man which is also his senior thesis project. After graduating with high honors, Kabrien plans on having his work shown on screen very soon so stay tuned.

JASMINE GONZALEZ
lives in New York City and is a senior at Lehman College. She is majoring in English Literature and minoring in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She has been a Presidential Scholar since her enrollment in Lehman in the Fall of 2018. In her Fall 2020 semester, she had a poem published in a Covid-19 Chapbook for Lehman College’s Literary Magazine, Obscura. Over the summer, she interned in the awards department for PEN America where she rediscovered a love for books and reading. In the future, she hopes to publish her own writing to further help the agenda of giving voices to marginalized writers, especially those who struggle with mental health. Her favorite author is Gloria Anzaldua because of her unapologetic honesty when it comes to standing up for the unheard voices of women of color.

RAFIANA MARTINEZ
is an English Honors major Concentrating in Creative Writing. at Lehman College. She is Vice President of The Latinx Student Alliance, and President to Obscura Literary Magazine. She has performed her poetry at Stone Soup Open mic night, ¡La Esquina! Open Mic night, and Inspired word. She is Editor of Obscura’s Literary, and Arts Magazine Chapbook titled Poetry in the Times of Covid. She has been published in LHM Vol. 1 Columbia University’s Latinx Literary Magazine, and In Protest through Poetry Anthology. As a writer, poet, and mother of three children, Rafiana is determined to work with the youth and teach them to use literacy as a positive outlet to express themselves, while simultaneously ending educational inequality. She hopes to one day publish several Anthologies and novels.

JENNIFER MEDINA
is a Macaulay Honors College student studying at Lehman College. She is majoring in English with a concentration in Literature. She loves to read stories that fully immerse her into a world that is unlike her own. She also sometimes enjoys writing her own stories, journal entries, and poems. Her other hobbies include baking, doting over her dog, and listening to alternative rock music. She hopes to one day work in publishing as an editor.

AMANDA MENDEZ
is a double major in History and English with a concentration in English Literature. She is a member of the Lehman College Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society on campus. This year she was able to intern at the Brooklyn Museum as a curatorial assistant and is currently a writing tutor at the Lehman Writing Center. In the future she plans to get her master’s degree in Library Science so she can work in libraries and museums across the world. During her spare time, she enjoys makeup, cosplay, and reading books, mostly about vampires. She has hopes to publish her own writing one day.

LATESHA PAISLEY
is a senior double majoring in Honors English Professional Writing and Political Science with a minor in Business Law. She plans to pursue a degree in law after completing her undergraduate degree. Education is very important to Latesha, and she instills that same belief in her children. Latesha’s degree path in English has helped her excel within her career of grant management. Currently, Latesha is a local grant manager intern with Education For All Coalition. She also works with Hopey’s Heart Foundation as a grant program manager and holds the position of vice president for the Parent’s Association at her son’s school. She has recently embarked on full-time position as a grants and contract analyst with Albert Einstein School of Medicine. Through her work with Hopey’s Heart Foundation, she has helped many people in lower-income communities increase their access to life-saving devices. Latesha continues to pursue her goal of eliminating generational education gaps and hopes to make an impact globally within her current position with Education For All Coalition. Her quote that she leaves each person with is, “What’s in a book? Knowledge! Wisdom is how you apply that knowledge.” In her free time, she loves to read, listen to music, and watch Korean, Thai, and Taiwanese dramas.

SIBYL RANDOLPH
is an English major with a concentration in Literature and plans to graduate in 2022. After a long pause, she decided to return to college and transferred from Baruch, where she was pursuing a Computer Science major, to Lehman, where she changed her major to English. Her English professors and their classes have both inspired her to write and challenged her to do her best. In addition to attending classes, she also works full-time at Bronx Community College and is currently the Clerk of Session at her church. She is also interested in teaching adult literacy classes.

PETER WATSON
is a Macaulay Honors College student at Lehman College majoring in English Literature. His favorite genres are science fiction, graphic novels, and Gothic fiction. In addition to his love of literature, he enjoys writing, painting, trying to play the cello, cubing (solving Rubik’s cubes), Caesar Salad, and cats. He is currently the print production and web editor for Lehman’s newspaper, The Meridian. He plans to work in the field of publishing and editing.