Michelle Dowd is a journalism professor and contributor to the New York Times, Alpinist, Catapult, and other national publications. She is the 2022 Faculty Lecturer of the Year at Chaffey College, where she founded the award-winning literary journal and creative collective, TheChaffey Review, advises Student Media, and teaches poetry and critical thinking in the California Institutes for Men and Women in Chino. She guides yoga and meditation throughout southern California.