Swanee Astrid is a poet-scribe from Sacramento, CA with degrees in Literature and Writing from the University of Iowa (BA) and Naropa University (MFA). She currently works for the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics as the logistical master-mind for the department and advisor to the Bombay Gin Literary Journal editorial board. Among other forays in small press, she has also been an art model, a line cook, editor, and festival producer. Her writing currently focuses on Nordic Animism, astro-anthropology, and other forms of magic.
Mari Brown is a writer, editor, performer, and producer whose projects have been covered in The New York Times, The Economist, The New York Observer, and The Believer Magazine, as well as on ABC News and Al Jazeera English. She is currently an Allen Ginsberg Fellow at JKS. After working as an editor in custom publishing, she co-founded Word on the Street, a company that created documentary theater based on real-life interviews. She has led nearly 100 public panels on themes ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to immigration. She is obsessed with the interplay between language and consciousness, savors experiencing other people as tuning forks, and roots for the serial comma.
Huck Shine is an aspiring writer and performer of poetry. He is the founder of DarkLeaf Publicatio (darkleaf.org), a Colorado based publishing company. Huck is, as a writer and a publisher, focused on shedding much needed light into the least seen or spoken (marginalized) aspects of humanity – holding close to a spiritual aesthetic of choosing to seek beauty ~even and maybe especially~ inside the encroaching darkness of this capitalocene apocalypse. Currently, he is in his last year of the undergraduate program at the Jack Kerouac School with aspirations toward the JKS MFA program and is the managing editor of Bombay Gin Literary Journal.
Heather Mars is the 2024 Anselm Hollo Fellow at Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School. Her brain runs on coffee and analogies. She loves rain, the ocean, finding tempting rocks, the inter-dimensionality of calculus, and creating wee books that encourage the participation of the reader. Her writing is a conscious action of putting down the thoughts that will not quiet. Currently she is working on a project about the power of misconceptions and the science education documentary A Private Universe.
Kristen Richards is the 2024 Anne Waldman Fellow at the JKS school. She is the author of two full-length poetry collections, as if to return myself to the sea, and The Desert is a Woman Too, published by Indie Earth Publishing in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Her work has been featured in Glow: Self Care Poetry for the Soul, The Elevation Review, and Glossy Lit Magazine. She is passionate about every aspect of poetry, especially as it relates to the desert, the mountains, and metaphors that last too long.
Frank Ortega has been awarded residency fellowships at MacDowell, Edward F. Albee Foundation, Jentel Foundation, Karolyi Foundation (France), Dorland Mountain Arts, Millay Arts, The Studios of Key West, a Poetry Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a Performance Grant from Poets & Writers, Inc., Second Place in The Fish Short Memoir Prize-Ireland, Commendation Winner from The Poetry Society of the United Kingdom, Finalist for Mississippi Review Prize, Merit Award in Atlanta Review International Poetry Competition, and fellowships to attend Naropa University, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the annual Frost Place Poetry Conference.
Charlotte Sachs (or Charlie), she/her, is a second-year MFA candidate at JKS and an editor for Bombay Gin Literary Journal. She enjoys working at the Naropa Writing Center and reading writers’ work at all stages of their processes. Charlie is interested in the revision of old mythologies, reimagining archetypes, and the reclamation of symbols frequently used in popular folklore. She has poetry in the forthcoming publication of The Pivot by The Wheel Art Collective and is working on a critical thesis exploring the poetics of TTPRGs. She spent the six years before JKS up in rainy British Columbia and is still adjusting to the weather in Colorado.
Rain Hastings (she/her) has spent her life in forests and is a poet activist engaged in guerilla restorations projects and community organizing toward intersections of ecological and social justice. She has an MFA in History & Culture, another in Women’s Spirituality, an MFA in Nature Writing, and is a current MFA candidate at Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics where she’s a member of Bombay Gin Literary Journal’s editorial board.
Sambhavi Ashok is a junior at Naropa University, pursuing a double major in Creative Writing and Literature and Psychology. As an editor, she focuses on the nuances of the piece and push the it towards innovation and texture. She was born and brought up in India and her culture shapes her words; she loves to write about her home. Currently she’s working on exploring the complexity of relationships, the tension in language and the beauty in loss.
Sprout Richards is an honorary editorial board member for Bombay Gin Literary Journal. She enjoys sleeping in the kitchen sink, playing with her lobster toy from Target, and biting noses.
Academics
Contemplative education brings together the best of Western scholarship and Eastern world wisdom traditions. Therefore, your pursuit of wisdom at Naropa means learning both about academic subjects and about your own place in the world. This innovative approach places Naropa on the cutting edge of the newest and most effective methods of teaching and learning.
Admissions & Aid
If you’re seeking an education that resonates with both personal fulfillment and global impact, Naropa could be your top choice. At Naropa, you will experience a comprehensive curriculum that integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational approaches. Explore how Naropa can fuel your journey of intellectual and spiritual development.
Life at Naropa
Through its incredibly vibrant and welcoming community, “Naropa offers a home for those who aren’t willing to conform to convention—the mystic, the healer, the prophet, the rebel, the artist, the revolutionary, the oddball—those who are incredible contributors to the evolution of society and of our planet.”—Core Associate Professor Zvi Ish-Shalom
The Naropa Difference
How is Naropa different from other universities? At Naropa, a liberal arts education balances rigorous academics with powerful interpersonal skills and self-awareness to educate the whole person. Naropa’s contemplative approach is inspired by Buddhist philosophy and the conviction that we can build a diverse, contemplative, enlightened society when we have transformed education to affirm the basic goodness of every person.
About Naropa
Located in Boulder, Colorado, Naropa University is a Buddhist-inspired, nonsectarian liberal arts university that is recognized as the birthplace of the mindfulness movement. Naropa offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs that emphasize professional and personal growth, intellectual development, and cultivating compassion.
Due to adverse weather conditions, all Naropa campuses will be closed Friday, March 15, 2024. All classes that require a physical presence on campus will be canceled. All online and low-residency programs are to meet as scheduled.
Based on the current weather forecast, the Healing with the Ancestors Talk & Breeze of Simplicity program scheduled for Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday will be held as planned.
Staff that do not work remotely or are scheduled to work on campus, can work remotely. Staff that routinely work remotely are expected to continue to do so.
As a reminder, notifications will be sent by e-mail and the LiveSafe app.
Regardless of Naropa University’s decision, if you ever believe the weather conditions are unsafe, please contact your supervisor and professors. Naropa University trusts you to make thoughtful and wise decisions based on the conditions and situation in which you find yourself in.
