大发

Faculty Highlights

Tell me about your background!

I graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a focus on theater and computer science. I studied at an acting conservatory in England where I also wrote two scripts.

I moved to Chicago to be an actor. There were some projects I loved dearly but ended up figuring out that the life of an actor was not quite for me.

So I went to grad school and focused on writing. My thesis was a script for a graphic novel. I also started working as an editor for a writing-research journal at Illinois State University (which I am still on).

I honed those editing skills as an Internal Auditor for State Farm, where you have to study information (and writing) in highly detailed ways. I would then have to do a write up of my assessments. Because a lot of the job was writing, the managers put my degree to work and had me proof-read our major documents.

What do you like to do for fun?

 I鈥檝e been getting into film making. I鈥檝e been watching endless videos on cinematography, lighting and editing. There鈥檚 one video that was 6 hours of a guy editing using an application I hadn鈥檛 used before. I watched in chunks鈥'm not insane.

All of this has been in service of making my own stuff. So far I鈥檝e completed one video (which I鈥檓 absurdly proud of). It starred a sock puppet. I recorded the vocals in my closet and filmed it in my basement. And I'm currently working on a new one. Possibly trying out green screen. I've got my Charlie Kelly Green Man suit and everything.

How long have you been teaching general writing classes?

This is my second semester teaching at 大发. I also taught composition courses during my graduate program.

What is your favorite part about teaching general writing classes?    

Writing is kind of like math; a lot of students are told that they鈥檙e not good at it. And instead of being able to break that down (is it just the grammar side? is it the five-paragraph essay I鈥檓 not good at?) or find styles they thrive in, they perpetuate that narrative about themselves into college.

I like being able to engage the students on an intellectual level. Once they can start to think in rigorous ways, once they have something exciting to say, they are more invested in writing it down.

It attacks the problem from a different angle. Students bloom because they are starting to think in new and more robust ways. And I find that really exciting.

Do you have a favorite student memory/moment?

I just had an awesome moment a couple weeks ago.

There鈥檚 a student who I find to be a really interesting thinker, but I suspect he鈥檚 been a little leery of the course. I was demoing a way to critically approach an article and he had a really surprising reaction.

There鈥檚 this thing in the article I was demoing, which feels very neutral and the author seems benign and smart, but she makes this assertion that when you look at it critically is so鈥ross. Students don鈥檛 see it though; it just goes by quickly and with such a positive spin that you don't stop to think about it.

So I showed them how when you use this methodology it can help unpack how what's problematic. And that interesting thinker, literally made the 鈥渕y mind was just blown鈥� gesture. Complete with 鈥渆xplodey鈥� sound effects.

In addition to that being a cool moment as a teacher, it helped to set this student up to use the methodology. It gave it a real weight and he鈥檚 been much more invested in using it. I also think it helped the rest of the class to see his reaction as well.

Any books you recommend?

 This isn鈥檛 really a teaching book, but my favorite is The Cheese Monkeys. Not the best title, but a fantastic book. It鈥檚 by Chip Kidd who鈥檚 a graphic designer, primarily a book cover designer (he鈥檚 done a lot of famous covers). The book is about a character who has somewhat accidentally ended up in a graphic design course and how much it shapes his worldview. It鈥檚 vicariously shaped mine too. I鈥檓 much more aware of the idea that everything manmade is (almost) exactly that鈥攎ade by a person who had to considered each aspect of the design.