Hi,

This picture is my latest school picture, and we all know how wonderful school pictures are. For those of you who will be in my class this year, next year, and all the following years, I have brown eyes, graying brown hair, and wear glasses; the rest changes without notice.

I grew up in Appleton and, disregarding a few years in Milwaukee and a student fellowship term at Chicago’s Newberry Library, have spent my life in Appleton. I not only remember life in Appleton before “The Mall,” but also remember when nothing was open on Sunday but the movie theaters (we had two--the Viking and the Appleton Theater) and the local gas station.  I believe that this was shortly after the dinosaurs disappeared.

As a result of coping with long Sunday afternoons without cable TV, I became an avid reader. Starting in third grade, I went to the public library and read through sections of books, including all the biographies and all the stories about dogs.  In fact, reading became a life-long obsession. I still read whenever I have the opportunity and value my summers for the vast amount of time I can devote to this pastime.

Besides reading, I love working with words, and one of my favorite classes was psychology of language where we learned about language acquisition, the meaning of language, and language usage among different peoples.  Combining my love of various cultures, language, and reading, it seemed only natural to become a teacher in these areas.

As far as personal data, I am married with two children. One child (my son) is married and is now 31. The other child (my daughter) is not married, which is a good thing because she just had her 11th birthday. I graduated from Lawrence University, worked at the University of Wisconsin Fox Valley for six years in developmental English, and have some experience teaching at the middle school level. I’m also very excited to be sharing my love of teaching and learning with Classical School's seventh and eighth graders.