Personal Biography
I grew up in suburban Long Island. As a child I divided my time between frequent trips to New York City, the beaches on the north and south shores of the island, and camping trips on the east end.
For most of my 20s I lived in the Mid-Hudson Valley where I went to college and worked as a journalist (and house painter and laborer). For a while I added rock climbing to my camping and backpacking interests. I moved to Texas for my PhD before landing in Oklahoma.
Currently, I am an Assistant Professor at Missouri Southern State University where I teach literature and writing. My scholarly interests include Southern literature and culture, environmental studies, and modernism (among other things). In my spare time, such as it is, I also write creatively: non-fiction, fiction, and poetry.
I recently became a certified Master Naturalist in Northwest Arkansas. I've been a member of the Sierra Club for a number of years and I used to volunteer extensively with the Oklahoma Chapter. I served as the newsletter editor, secretary of the executive committee, and chapter chair. I'm generally distrustful of mottoes, but the Sierra Club's simple motto, "Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet," makes a lot of sense to me. It aligns well with my approach to living on this earth.
Teaching, research, and writing takes up most of my time. But I do have a number of hobbies. If I'm not in the office you might find me in the garden, running, building something in the workshop, hitting the trail somewhere, bird watching, taking pictures, listening to old-time music, watching baseball (I'm a long time Mets fan), or studying Zen (or as Dogen would say, studying the self...).
For most of my 20s I lived in the Mid-Hudson Valley where I went to college and worked as a journalist (and house painter and laborer). For a while I added rock climbing to my camping and backpacking interests. I moved to Texas for my PhD before landing in Oklahoma.
Currently, I am an Assistant Professor at Missouri Southern State University where I teach literature and writing. My scholarly interests include Southern literature and culture, environmental studies, and modernism (among other things). In my spare time, such as it is, I also write creatively: non-fiction, fiction, and poetry.
I recently became a certified Master Naturalist in Northwest Arkansas. I've been a member of the Sierra Club for a number of years and I used to volunteer extensively with the Oklahoma Chapter. I served as the newsletter editor, secretary of the executive committee, and chapter chair. I'm generally distrustful of mottoes, but the Sierra Club's simple motto, "Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet," makes a lot of sense to me. It aligns well with my approach to living on this earth.
Teaching, research, and writing takes up most of my time. But I do have a number of hobbies. If I'm not in the office you might find me in the garden, running, building something in the workshop, hitting the trail somewhere, bird watching, taking pictures, listening to old-time music, watching baseball (I'm a long time Mets fan), or studying Zen (or as Dogen would say, studying the self...).
This picture of my desk and office probably says a lot about me.
|
|
I like to spend time in the natural world, and I try to capture the images that inspire me. Below is a small sampling of some of places I've been and the vistas that greeted me and my camera.