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What have you been up to since graduating from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾?

I moved to St. Andrews, Scotland, after receiving the St. Andrews Society of New York Scholarship to pursue a master’s in creative writing. While there, I swam daily in the North Sea, traveled the isles, and worked on a collection of short stories and the beginnings of a debut novel. I had the privilege of learning from poet and novelist John Burnside, one of only four poets to win both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for a single book.

After completing my master’s, I began writing for Stanford University’s Natural Capital Project, focusing on long-form narratives about incorporating natural capital accounting into decision-making worldwide. I’ve worked with the Natural Capital Committee in Chile, co-authored an article with the Armenian Minister of the Environment on river basin management, and am currently covering a story on ecosystem service information led by the Waorani Nation to support a just transition in Yasuni National Park.

I also recently collaborated with Stanford political science professor Bruce Cain ’70 and Oxford scholar Gillian Peele to edit The Changing Character of the American Right, featuring contributions from over twenty political scientists.

In my free time, I explore the mountains, swim in Maine where I’m based, and write as much as I can.

Why English?

Writing has always been my way of navigating the world. The major gave me the space to think deeply, express myself meaningfully, and develop the discipline and voice I carry with me in both my creative and professional work. I see writing as a practice that pairs confidence with humility, values I bring to my career and community. I chose English largely because I believe that being a good reader is fundamental to being an engaged and empathetic citizen.

Are there any classes, professors, or experiences that had a lasting impact on you?

I completed a series of short stories for my honors project with A. Leroy Greason Professor of English Brock Clarke, who was instrumental in encouraging me to keep going and to just go for it. His advice that “the logistics of fiction matter” and his frequent prompt to “tell me who died in the first paragraph” continue to resonate in much of my writing. Assistant Professor of English Samia Rahimtoola’s class on ecopoetics fundamentally changed the way I engage as a writer facing climate change. The literature and theory we explored deeply shaped my ethos and approach to both writing and living on a damaged planet, while also giving me hope that through presence and place, there may be a way forward.

What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates interested in your field? 

Learning to live in uncertainty is one of the greatest challenges and gifts of this stage of life. There is no neat, orderly path laid out for an English major, but trust that your ability to connect disparate ideas, think critically, and engage thoughtfully with the world truly matters. Have the courage to carve out your own niche and to uphold your belief in the fundamental value the humanities bring to our country.

What have you been up to since graduating from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾? How did your time in English shape your path?

I’m currently the state politics reporter at WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station. After graduating, I started out at The Forecaster, a local weekly paper where I covered Brunswick and Harpswell. From there, I spent a year in Sri Lanka on a Princeton in Asia fellowship, reporting on politics, crime, and post-war reconstruction for an English-language newspaper in Colombo. At WBUR, my work focuses on issues of government accountability and transparency, such as investigating how ousted police officers in Massachusetts have quietly moved from one department to another. I decided I wanted to go into journalism after taking Senior Writer-in-Residence Anthony Walton’s class Telling Environmental Stories. That course showed me that writing and reporting is really about following your curiosity, paying close attention, and always asking questions.

What have you been up to since graduating from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾?

After getting an MFA in literary nonfiction from the University of Minnesota in 2018, I have been working as a freelance writer and teacher, based mostly in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. My first book, Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear, was published by Flatiron/Macmillan in 2023, and has its roots in my environmental studies/English honors thesis from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾. I’m now working on my second book for Flatiron, about love amidst disaster, and specifically climate catastrophe. I also teach writing in my hometown of Portland and for visiting workshops and programs. Next fall, I’ll be a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, teaching environmental writing to MFA grad students.

Why English? (What drew you to the major/minor and how has it shaped your path?)

I was drawn to English because I loved reading books, but the true value of the major came from what happened in the classroom. There, we learned to discuss and critically analyze these stories and explore how they reflect and shape the world around us.

Are there any classes, professors, or experiences that had a lasting impact on you?

Senior Writer-in-Residence Anthony Walton’s Telling Environmental Stories class shaped my entire career and gave me a broader sense of what was possible at the intersection of my two ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ majors. One of the strengths of studying English at a place like ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ is that the classes you take in Massachusetts Hall, for example, are naturally in conversation with other disciplines. My experience studying trauma narratives with Associate Professor of English Guy Mark Foster and Victorian literature with Aviva Briefel, Edward Little Professor of the English Language and Literature and Cinema Studies, informed how I approached material in history and sociology classes. My writing today is deeply shaped by this interconnected, interdisciplinary view of the world.

What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates interested in your field?

I never did official internships for magazines or media companies, mostly because it felt too cost prohibitive to live in the big cities that offered them. Instead, I’ve built a steady freelance career by living in more affordable places, often with fewer writers competing for the same stories as in, say, New York City. I spent a year as a writer-in-residence in Northern Michigan and worked on a film in rural inner Sicily. I loved exploring those places, and being somewhat adrift from most of my friends and family helped me strengthen my writing skills. I was sometimes lonely, but I had a lot of time to write. As tempting as it was to move to New York with my friends after graduation, I believe my career benefited from choosing a different path.