Our Response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak

As a precaution to help limit the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and care for our community, Just Buffalo Literary Center has postponed a number of events, and we will follow the guidance of Buffalo Public Schools in terms of Just Buffalo Writing Center programming.

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Our Staff & Board of Directors

Just Buffalo’s Staff

Every member of our staff believes in the love of reading, the art of writing, and the power of the literary arts to transform individual lives and communities.

Barbara Cole

Barbara Cole

Executive & Artistic Director

BARBARA COLE is the Executive and Artistic Director of Just Buffalo and a 2011 Fellow in Poetry from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Cole began her involvement with Just Buffalo as a teaching artist, working closely with students in the Buffalo Public Schools, before joining the organization as Education Director (2008-2012). Born and raised in Philadelphia, she received her M.A. in Creative Writing—Poetry from Temple University before coming to Buffalo to earn her Ph.D. in English from the University at Buffalo. Since 2000, Cole has been writing the ongoing long poem project affectionately known as foxy moron. In addition to her poetic projects, she edited Poets at Play: An Anthology of Modernist Drama with Sarah Bay-Cheng (Susquehanna University Press, 2010).

Noah Falck

Noah Falck

Literary Director

NOAH FALCK is the author of Exclusions (Tupelo Press) finalist for the 2020 Believer Book Award for poetry, as well as several chapbooks including Prerecorded Weather co-authored with Matt McBride (SurVision Books) winner of the 2022 James Tate Poetry Prize. His work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Literary Hub, Poetry Daily, Poets.org and has been anthologized in Poem-A-Day 365 Poems for Every Occasion (Abrams Books, 2015). Originally from Dayton, Ohio, where he spent 10 years teaching elementary school, he now works as Literary Director at Just Buffalo Literary Center and curates the Silo City Reading Series, a multimedia poetry series inside a 120-foot-high abandoned grain elevator.

Robin Jordan

Robin Lee Jordan

Writing Center Director

ROBIN LEE JORDAN is a poet & collage-based visual artist with an interest in multimodal, interactive, & collaborative creation. She is the author of the chapbooks Morning Blessing Poems (Foundlings Press) and THEY ATE EACH OTHER UP (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs). She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Oregon State University. She occasionally maintains the (B)uffalo (A)rt (D)ispensary, a coin-operated, micro-art dispenser. Robin has worked with Just Buffalo since 2012 as a teaching artist and coordinator of the Just Buffalo Writing Center, a creative writing center for teens.

Lynda Kaszubski

Lynda Kaszubski

Operations Manager 

LYNDA G. KASZUBSKI is the Operations Manager for Just Buffalo and previously co-owned a typesetting service for 15 years before joining Just Buffalo in 2002. Ms. Kaszubski has an AS in Business Administration from SUNY Empire State College and is a Notary Public for the State of New York in Erie County.

Christina Vega-Westhoff

Christina Vega-Westhoff

Writing Center Coordinator

CHRISTINA VEGA-WESTHOFF is a poet, translator, aerialist, choreographer, and educator. She is the author of Suelo Tide Cement (Nightboat), winner of the 2017 Nightboat Prize for Poetry. Her poems, translations, and performance writing have appeared in Best American Experimental Writing, Words Without Borders, Emergency INDEX, and elsewhere. Nina has taught writing in both English and Spanish through Centro de Estudios y Acción Social Panameño, University of Arizona, University of Arizona Poetry Center, Tucson Pima Arts Council, Arts for Learning Western New York, Geneseo Migrant Center, and Just Buffalo. As an aerialist and choreographer, she has been involved in performances across Western New York and teaches aerial dance at The Bird’s Nest Circus Arts.

Richie Wills

Richie Wills

Program Coordinator & Teaching Artist

rwills@justbuffalo.org

RICHIE WILLS holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the SUNY College at Buffalo. Before being hired as a staff member, he worked as a Writing Center and BABEL volunteer and as an outreach coordinator for Words on the Street and The Mocha Center. He is also contributing writer for The Galactic Tribe and continues to work as a community organizer. He is a 2020 Oishei Leaders of Color Fellow, currently participating in program designed to support and develop nonprofit leaders of color, with local cohort and national reach. Richie believes in the power of the written word and storytelling to bring people together and break barriers.

Myari Ware

Myari Ware

Communications Coordinator

MYARI WARE earned her B.A. in Art History and African American Studies from Buffalo State College and has an impressive range of experience with marketing, social media strategy, events planning, fundraising and development work from her positions at M&T Bank, Buffalo International Film Festival, East Meets West Yoga, Buffalo Arts Studio and the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens.

Just Buffalo’s Board of Directors

Just Buffalo’s work would not be possible without the dedication of our committed volunteer board of directors.

 

Board Officers

President

Michael C. Angelucci
Financial Advisor
Level Financial Advisors

Vice President

Pauline Muto
Attorney 

Treasurer

Thomas F. Hewner
Attorney
Cole, Sorrentino, Hurley, Hewner, & Gambino, PC

Secretary

Sandra Block, M.D.
Writer & Physician
Buffalo Medical Group

Board Members

James Bachwitz
President
JRB Insights

Kanika Durland 
Educator

Collin Gehl
Director of Human Resources
Say Yes Buffalo

Geraldine Grossman
Executive & Leadership Coach

Jeannine Higgins
Marketing & Communications Consultant, Author

Gwen Ito
Storytelling and Advocacy Content Specialist
Health Foundation for Western & Central New York

Elizabeth Pascal
Partner/Attorney
Hodgson Russ LLP

Lorna Perez
Associate Professor, English Department
Buffalo State University

Shasti O’Leary Soudant
Assistant Professor, Art & Design Department
Buffalo State University

 

About Just Buffalo Literary Center

Our Newsletters & Annual Reports

40 Years of Just Buffalo History

JB40 Stories Collection