About

I’m an English professor  (specialty–Composition and Rhetoric) & Chair of the Department of Language and Literature at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, OK. I also served as the Writing Center Coordinator from August 2012-May 2021. I’m interested in the ways in which creative writing and composition pedagogy intersect, especially in creative nonfiction (whatever that is). My research interests also include essay studies, genre theory, computers and composition, qualitative research, feminist and critical pedagogies, composition history, invention studies, writing across the curriculum, and writing center theory. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a generalist when it comes to writing studies. I also regularly teach Introduction to Film as an online course, which intersects well with my interest in genre theory especially.

I occasionally think of myself as an essayist, though that is really a constant process of becoming. I like dogs, especially dachshunds, though I’m also a fan of  shitzus, German shepherds, and newfoundlands. I got married and moved to Oklahoma in 2009 because I thought I might enjoy actually living with my husband instead of talking to him on the phone 10 times a day. In 2014, our son was born, and we embark on new adventures every day with him. So it goes.

Between 2008 and 2010, this blog was devoted to my attempts at reflecting on the process of writing my dissertation, “Excavating the Essay: A Generic Approach to Understanding Invention in the Composition Classroom.” As of June 22, 2010, though, I successfully defended my dissertation, which means this blog has taken a new, still developing direction. I can’t wait to find out where we end up. I am inconsistent when it comes to posting as I essay through life, but I do return with updates and musings as they come to me.

For a word about the title of the blog, click here.