About me

I grew up in a house nestled in the woods in Southern NH, with my mom, dad, and sister Sarah. I lived there my whole life until I moved to college. Even though I live in another state, in many ways, I still consider it my home.

I graduated from Hampshire College, in Amherst, MA, in May 2007. I knew the summer before my senior year in high school that Hampshire was the school for me. I was attracted by so many things: academic freedom, an individualized and self-designed education, close student-faculty relationships, papers instead of standardized tests, written evaluations instead of grades, and the five-college consortium (I was able to take courses not only at Hampshire, but also at Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, and Smith Colleges, and UMass Amherst).

At Hampshire, I completed a self-designed major studying The Relationship Between Author, Reader, Culture, History, and Text. My Division III (yearlong project/senior thesis) was entitled The Memoir Genre: Ethical Implications and Issues of Truth and Reliability.

Throughout high school and most of college, my plan was to go into publishing. Every summer during college, I had a publishing related internship. During my last year at Hampshire it struck me that while I enjoyed reading and editing manuscripts, it wasn’t quite what I wanted to spend my life doing. I wanted to be able to actively share my love of literature with others. Instead of sitting in an office, alone with a text, I wanted to have passionate discussions! I knew that I really wanted to teach high school students and to convince fourteen-year-olds that reading is extremely cool.

Last year (2007-2008) I completed an alternative teacher certification program, the New Teachers Collaborative, while teaching fulltime at a charter school in Massachusetts. This year, I very happily continue to teach there, now as a certified teacher. I teach 9th and 10th grade English at a school that emphasizes project-based, interdisciplinary learning. I also run the school newspaper. I get to talk about literature with teenagers every day. My job is amazing!

Some of my ever-expanding interests

traveling, writing letters, skiing, vegetarianism, bicycles,  cooking, being outside, picture books, listening to stories, reading stories, playing word games, Destination Imagination (a creative-problem solving program for youth).

Contact

To contact me, please e-mail: notsorural [at] gmail [dot] com.