Allow me to introduce myself.
I'm a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. I was born in Dorchester (Boston), MA and I moved to Westfield, New Jersey when I was 10. This makes me, among other things, a fun speaker of the English language.
When I'm not completing academic work or teaching, I'm usually pursuing other hobbies that are suffused with my interests in language, power and identity. I'm an avid reader and writer of fiction and poetry. I used to perform poetry on the National Poetry Slam circuit. I miss the stage but I'm afraid my writing suffers when it becomes too other-directed. I'm interested in the visual arts, but I tend to focus on creating charcoal, pen & ink, and watercolor portraits. I also love reading philosophy, and much of my favorite fiction has philosophical undertones (e.g., Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being). Critical analysis might as well be my middle name.
As for pop culture, I just skim online news, hop on YouTube, flip channels and hope for the best. This is one of the many genres in which my students' knowledge far exceeds my own. I do adore film and am slowly becoming interested in media technology. I would prefer not to be on the computer when I'm not working, though, and I identify most with the Beat Generation (sans misogyny). Good books, good music, good conversation and a good writing groove are all forms of movement, and boy do I like to move, move, move.
If I had the choice, my bedroom would have a moonroof. I need the sun and the breeze, I need to be outside. I love the runner's high and if I had the time, I would walk everywhere I go. I love going, love discovering. I enjoy my mix of low and high culture, I enjoy subverting gender, class and sexuality norms, and I'm sticking to it.
Who am I? I am a researcher, a teacher, a writer, and an activist.