Writing the Short Story
Ages 11 - 18
My love of language has been a constant in my life since I was a little girl reading YA fantasy novels and taking spelling quizzes for fun. My adorable cat is named Ampersand Etcetera for exactly this reason!
I was homeschooled by my mother during my 4th-8th grade years as a Baltimore County resident. The experience of moving at my own pace in both the subjects I excelled in as well as the ones where I struggled was inspiring, and I developed as a critical thinker and as a writer during those years. Then, I attended the Carver Center for Technology & the Arts magnet high school in Towson, MD where I specialized in Literary Arts. I was able to spend hours every day on crafting poems, reading about poetic forms, and studying the works of literary masters. This was the kind of school where almost every classroom had chairs set in a circle and every voice got to be heard. I then spent four wonderful years at the liberal arts institution Oberlin College in Ohio, and received two B.A. degrees in both Literature and Creative Writing. I continued to work as a poet at Oberlin, but I also experienced writing pedagogy from an interactive standpoint for the first time. I was a Teaching Assistant for my folklore instructor in my senior year, and also used a summer session to work for my old Creative Writing instructor at Carver. These were my first experiences in teaching, and the gift of witnessing a writer’s pride after guiding them to clearer expression changed my aim for my future. I wanted to write, but I also wanted to teach and learn from teaching.
After graduating from Oberlin, I moved to Tucson, AZ where I earned my M.A. in Literature from the University of Arizona (U of A). I taught English Composition writing and large survey Literature courses to college students for over five years at the U of A, including semesters as an Honors instructor. Returning to the world of homeschooling is an absolute joy to me and a tribute to how powerful the exploration of the written word can be in household settings. I’m still the nerdy fantasy-loving girl and the aspiring poet, but I’m also thrilled to be helping the next generation of homeschooled kids get as excited about the written word as I was and continue to be.
Ages 11 - 18