I'd really like to be talking about the "Truth in Blogging/Blogs as Literature" debate that's been going on, but I haven't had the time. End of semester crunch, blah blah. However, I do feel obligated to say how flattered I am by Dorothea's notion that I am an expert on Language Theory and Lit Theory. If only that were the case. Actually, Mister Boyfriend is the expert around here on that sort of thing. You want your discourse pragmatics, your speech act theory, or anything at all to do with British Romantic literature and criticism thereof, he's your guy. Not me.

I haven't been able to bring myself to put up an "About" page, and I guess I've never really talked in this space about my research areas or education. That's odd, given what my blog seems to be about. So here goes:

I hold BAs in Literature and Professional & Technical Writing. I'm in the middle of a MFA in Rhetoric at the moment. My cognate involves the integration of ESL pedagogy into Writing Center practice. My declared emphasis is Nonfiction Writing, and I'm currently co-teaching a course on that topic, but that interest has pretty much been overidden by my inexplicable need for Theory. My first year in the program has consisted of 24 straight credit hours of Theory.

My research areas are Rhetorical Theory, Queer Theory and, increasingly, Digital Discourse. I have a fascination with Southern Studies, but have never had an opportunity to take a course in it. I also have an interest in Intellectual Property, particularly in online environments, which I've recently begun to explore. Looks like my thesis topic may fall somewhere in that realm. (Or maybe not. You never know around here, do you?)

Also, I teach Astronomy 1101 and 1301 with this brilliant ex-NASA PhD. I have no idea how that happened.