ABOUT

I am originally from the South Shore of Long Island and I now live in the PDX area of Oregon. I have also lived in Maine, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Colorado, and I have ties to upstate New York, the greater Boston, Massachusetts area, and the Southwest.

​

I have a PhD in English/Creative Writing from the University of North Dakota, an MA in English from Marshall University (for which I wrote two theses: a creative one of poetry and a feminist analysis of Shirley Jackson's writing), and a BA with two majors--English and Sociology-Psychology from Marietta College in Ohio. I have taught poetry to all ages in a variety of settings, from supervising MA thesis to leading workshops for high school students, from being a Poet-in-the-Schools in rural middle schools to teaching undergraduate Intro to Creative Writing classes.

​

My other creative expressions are making beaded jewelry, quilting, and altered books. I am also a Girl Scout leader.

​

Besides teaching at colleges and universities, I have also been a social worker, an improv performer, a retail manager,

an ESL teacher, a camp counselor, a temp worker, a bingo floorwalker, a substitute teacher in high schools, a retail worker (floor and catalog), a phone salesperson for solar panels, a supermarket check-out cashier, a freelance editor,

a features writer for a small newspaper, a waitress, and a VISTA with Americorps.

​

​

The photograph above is of Girl Scout Camp Edey on Long Island.

It is my favorite camp . I took this picture in 2012 (or thereabouts).