I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and received my undergraduate degree (a Bachelors in English with Honors) from the University of Texas at Austin. After graduation, I had an adventurous year off of school where I attempted to hike the California portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, watched the summer Olympics in Atlanta, moved to Montana and back to Atlanta again, bought my first car–had it stolen along with everything I owned in it–and waited so, so many tables. After this crazy year, I applied to graduate schools. I ended up going to the University of Montana in Missoula for my Master’s in Literature. Here, I was introduced to post-colonial literature, and I became even more interested in literature as a way to see and experience the world through perspectives very different from my own. After a few years working in Skagway, Alaska, where I debated what to do next in my life, I moved to Portland, and I’ve been teaching or working at PCC ever since. When I first started teaching at PCC, I was contemplating pursuing my PhD in Literature and took several literature classes at PCC. Having written my thesis on the works of Haitian writer, Dany Laferiere, and African-American writer, Chester Himes, I was interested in digging deeper into the themes of their work, but I ended up hooked on Portland and teaching first-year composition. I was introduced to a wonderful community of teacher scholars who were very invested in the craft of teaching first-year composition, defining the goals of first-year composition, and looking at best practices. But what really keeps me loving this field is getting to know and learn from new students each term and being some part of their journey through college and life. From studying the literature of the Caribbean to debating the merits of an Oxford comma, I believe in the power of the written world to connect us as humans and to advance the things that matter most to us.