Associate Professor

English

My fiction and non-fiction work often explores humans in the process of negotiating a reality that seems absurd, alien, or unconsciously constructed out of fear and insecurity. These voices must confront their own natures and temporal and spatial existence. In my writing, not only is being human dangerous, but so are narratives as they spin out or reel in or unravel and feel out liminal spaces. This has led me to not only study the craft of fiction writing, but also the evolution of the novel and narrative theory. Additionally, I find horror and monster theory and theories of bodies as well as graphic novels enjoyable when it comes to asking what sort of narratives make us feel undone or question our idea of story and our world. As a biracial writer, I have found my own stories often straddle worlds and expectations, which has led me to study Native American writing and experimental works of writers of color with an eye towards the blending and blurring of narratives and constructed reality.

My joy as a writer and teacher is to explore and experiment, while building a foundational knowledge of key craft concepts and theories. In the spirit of exploration, I attempt collage and I'm learning how to felt wool (mostly little animals that all have the same cartoonish and wobbly bodies). I would love to learn to quilt. I am not comfortable in the kitchen (speaking of the challenge of temporal and spatial existence), but I try to cook and I'm failing better each time. I'm originally from Utah and after some years in other parts of the nation, I'm very happy to be nestled amongst the Rockies again as is my husband (J.P.) and our two dogs, Mojo (a shih tzu) and Voodoo (a shepherd mix).

Regular Classes

EN283 Beginning Fiction

EN251 Literature by Native American Writers

EN252 Topics in Native American Literature

EN298 Representing Identities in Contemporary Fiction

EN380 Diverse Voices/Diverse Forms

EN481 Fiction Workshop

EN485 Fiction Senior Project