About Me
Hailing originally from the DC Metropolitan area, I moved to Oklahoma in 2011 to attend graduate school and never left. So I guess this is home now? I’m an enthusiast of vinyl (listening to and collecting), hockey (watching and playing), books (“Obnoxiously well read,” per a source), movies, baking, chess, and playing the guitar and harmonica, just to name a few. (Some people say I collect hobbies.) I am also a big fan of dogs, especially my two dummies: Scout and Mabel.
Education
- Ph.D. in English, Oklahoma State University
- M.A. in English, Oklahoma State University
- B.S. in Mass Communication, Shepherd University
Why I Teach
I am a teacher of English because I believe in the mission of the humanities. The humanities, as I understand them, seeks to explore human experience and to appreciate and interrogate human accomplishments and failures so we may better understand our contemporary moment. More importantly, the humanities are forward-looking: it looks to where we are going, not just where we have been and where we are. In my English classes, I hope to foster dialogue and the necessary communicative skills through an engagement with literature and writing of all kinds so that my students can ultimately learn from the past and experiences of others to create a better and more equitable future for themselves and others.
Currently Available Courses
AP English Literature and Composition
This is a college-level literature course which explores a variety of the world’s great literature. It prepares students to take the AP Literature exam which, if passed, counts for college credit. The course involves intensive reading, writing, and discussion.
Cinema Studies
This class asks students to watch and seriously study movies. Students will learn about movie narratives, camera work, set and sound design, costumes and make-up, and editing, among other concepts.
In addition to watching and studying movies, students will have opportunities to develop and practice movie-making through weekly labs. Other assignments include quizzes, exams, short writing assignments, and a final project.
Critical Communication
As the culmination of their language studies, students read challenging and diverse material and are also given freedom to choose their own topics of inquiry. Students will write essays and other short works, both fiction and non-fiction, for each section with the goal of creating arguments that synthesize their readings, discussions, and research and clarify their individual ideas about each theme/topic.
Pop Culture
This class explores how art, movies, music, television, social media, and trends reflect and shape culture.
Each week, students focus on a new topic, analyzing how that artifact of pop culture connects to history, identity, technology, and current events.
Topics include: comedy, professional wrestling, the Titanic and disaster movies, baseball and sports fandom, jazz and hip-hop, conspiracy theories, among others.
Assignments include: quizzes, short writing assignments, a research presentation, among others.