A recent graduate of the Johns Hopkins Creative Writing Program, I write both fiction and poetry. I just finished writing my first novel, The Stage, which takes place in Washington D.C. and could be described as "Cheers" on crack. The novel focuses on the lives of two characters, Katya, a Russian émigré and Josh, an all-American-boy, and the choices they make as they try to find themselves in a city as dark and as unforgiving as Washington, D.C. Surrounding them is a group of social misfits – a popular prostitute, a lonely lawyer, an old postman, and a bitter waiter – who come together at a bar called The Stage and who try, in their own ways, to guide Katya and Josh.