“On Constructive Anger” in Ruminate Magazine

My favorite part about teaching at Johnson is: The community at Johnson is incredibly warm and inviting. Faculty and students made such an effort to get to know me and help me during my first semester. I will always be grateful for that.

When I’m not teaching, I love to: Watch true crime shows and knit. I am slowly becoming the old lady I was born to be.

In my classes, students can expect: Focused and thoughtful chaos. The majority of the things we read in my classes are strange (because we read a lot of science fiction), and they challenge the way we perceive the world and the people around us. I love hearing my students’ thoughts and reactions to the weird stuff I make them read.

My best advice to a new student in my program is: Try to establish and maintain a routine or schedule as soon as you can. College is a time when you want to say “yes” to everything because there are so many opportunities. However, that leads to burnout very quickly. If you have a schedule, if you learn how to plan, then you’ll learn when it’s appropriate to say “yes.”

Because of my influence, I most want my students to become: Empathetic, curious, and kind. I think the beauty of literature is that it enables us to immerse ourselves in someone else’s experience. It gives us access to someone else’s reality. I think understanding the “why?” and “how?” that makes a person who they are better prepares us to reach all nations.

The myth-busting truth about my discipline I most want people to understand is: Studying literature or composition and rhetoric teaches you how to debate, think through implications and outcomes, anticipate objections, and create connections between different schools of thought.

A quote that influences how I live is:

“All manner of things shall be well.” – Julian of Norwich

“Let nothing upset you/ Let nothing startle you./ All things pass; / God does not change.” – St. Teresa of Avila