At some point between my graduation from the University of Kansas in 2011, and the opening of my graduate career at Arizona State University, I began to realize that the great majority of the literature which resonated strongest with me came directly from or was somehow closely affiliated with the modernist period. It was this dawning recognition which led me to ASU in 2013, as my awareness of the period’s impact on my life began to gel, an awareness that recognized the coherent progression from a youthful interest in Rex Stout, to a teenage one in William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf, to an adult passion for Ezra Pound and his mystifying Cantos. With this recognition came an urgent need, a demand to understand the draw of works from this period and to find a way to share the excitement about language which I experienced in reading them with others. My master’s degree study at ASU provided me with the tools and opportunities for beginning to tackle these concerns. I worked extensively with Gregory Castle on projects in the field of modernism, developing from a relationship established in a course on aesthetic theory in my second semester. The following fall I conducted a research assistantship under Dr. Castle’s guidance, succeeded by an applied project chaired by himself and …show more content…
Teaching has been an incredibly fulfilling experience, and in my continued graduate study at the doctoral level I hope to continue to do so in any capacity, and to continue to be able to connect with young students and share my passion for written and spoken English. I would very much like the chance to teach a variety of courses both in ESL and in English literature and composition, continuing as I do so to explore all that language has to offer in the shared learning experience that is