I grew up an insatiable reader. Fantasy and science fiction were my go-to genres,
as well as comic books and role-playing games. I wrote my undergraduate honors thesis
on E. R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros and its 19th century influences. Poetry was always a passion too, and my own poems have appeared
in many literary journals over the last two decades, including The Paris Review, Antioch Review, Kenyon Review and The Beloit Poetry Journal.
Since 2008, I’ve contributed reviews and essays on contemporary classical music to
La Tempestad, an arts and culture magazine in Mexico City. I’ve also published essays on poets,
poetry and translation in The Los Angeles Review of Books. The Ohio Art’s Council has awarded me its Individual Excellence Award in Criticism
four times for my essays: in 2010, 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Currently, I serve as the head of Ohio Dominican's English department and as Director
of the Master of Arts in English Program. I teach a wide variety of classes both to
undergraduate students and in our M.A. in English program: courses in poetry (both
classic and contemporary), creative writing, Shakespeare, Chaucer, the Romantics and
much more.
But teaching is only a part of what I do. I dabble in sketching. I love to travel.
I've taken students abroad, to Italy, Greece and Egypt. I’ve spent a lot of time in
Mexico City. I’m a runner and I love the outdoors. In the summer, I go kayaking and
camping; I've climbed Mt. Washington and gone abseiling in New Zealand. And I love
looking at the stars and planets; I use a six-inch Orion AstroView reflector telescope
to view the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and other celestial objects worthy
of poetry.
Take one of my literature courses and you'll be surprised how much you like it, and
how much it changes you.
