Charles Castinado

Contact

Dept:ENGL
Email:casti@iastate.edu

Bio

Jordan Castinado is a first-year student in the Creative Writing and Environment program, and a Pearl Hogrefe Fellow for 2019-2020.

Jordan earned his BFA in creative writing at Prescott College in central Arizona, where he fell in love with the high-desert forests, dark skies, and red-hued rocks of the liminal landscapes between the Sonoran Desert and the Colorado Plateau. Prior to attending university, Jordan served in the United States Marine Corps as an infantryman, completing two deployments to Afghanistan's Helmand Province near the end of Operation Enduring Freedom.

A nonfiction writer and memoirist particularly fond of the lyric essay, prose poetry, and other dances betwixt prose and verse, Jordan seeks to integrate —and interrogate— his combat-zone experiences while engaging the existential implications of an American age marked by anomie, uncertainty, rapid change, and alienation from self, environment, and the divine.

In addition to literary pursuits, Jordan enjoys sunny days, forest strolls, long-form discursive rants, white tea, road trips, the company of animals, and winding dérives through interesting spaces. I'm a member of the new cohort and have three quick corrections for my English Department bio: