Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION:
2012 Goddard College, MFA in Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction
Thesis: Mirror Box, Creative Nonfiction. Elena Georgiou, advisor
Teaching Practicum: Rebecca Brown, advisor
2005 Wayne State University, BA in Honors English, minor in Women’s Studies
Honors Thesis: Evidence, Creative Nonfiction. Carla Harryman, advisor.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Teaching, Mentoring, and Academics
2019 - Present Faculty
First-Year Writing Program
Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts
The New School
New York, NY
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2016-2018 Curriculum Specialist
Principal Writer, CUNY/NYSED CareerKit Project
Language and Literacy Programs
The Research Foundation of the City University of New York
New York, NY
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2013-2016 Reading and Writing Instructor
CUNY Start
Borough of Manhattan Community College
The City University of New York
New York, NY
2011 Creative Writing Instructor
Oakland Public Library
MFA Teaching Practicum
Oakland, CA
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2009 Creative Writing Instructor
United for Success Academy
Oakland, CA
2007-2010 Program Director
Extended Day Program
United for Success Academy
Oakland, CA
2008-2009 Student Advisor
United for Success Academy
Oakland, CA
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2004-2005 Tutor
English Composition, Analytical Writing, Reading Comprehension
Freelance
Detroit, MI
2004 Creative Writing Instructor, Life Skills Mentor
Alternatives for Girls
Detroit, MI
Related Professional Experience
2020 Curriculum Specialist
Hats and Ladders, Inc.
New York, NY
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2017-2019 Vision and Strategy Group (Founding Member)
The Adoption Museum Project
History Initiative
http://www.adoptionmuseumproject.org
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2011–2013 Program Specialist, Curriculum Consultant, Grant Writer, Social Media Coordinator
MOUSE Squad of California
South San Francisco, CA.
2011-2012 Cross-Genre/Hybrid Editor
The Pitkin Review
Plainfield, VT
2004-2005 Co-founder, Co-Editor
Radical Detroit: A Journal of Political and Cultural Resistance
Detroit, MI
2004-2005 Counselor
Transition to Independent Living Program
Alternatives for Girls
Detroit, MI
2004 Counselor for LGBTQ Homeless Youth
Ruth Ellis House
Detroit, MI
2003-2004 Program Coordinator
Sexuality and Gender Advocacy Project
Alternatives for Girls
Detroit, MI
Courses Taught
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2020 LFYW 2000, Writing the Essay III: Creative Inquiry
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2020 LFYW 1000, Writing the Essay I: Dreaming Care
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2019-2020 LFYW 1500, Writing the Essay II: Reproductive Freedom and the Family
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Selected Original Workshops
2016 Memoir/Anti-Memoir
Online Course
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2016 Unthinkable Creatures, Unruly Bodies
Online Course
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2012 Writing in the House of Difference
Faculty and Student Training
Goddard College
Plainfield, VT
2011 Soma(tic) Poetry for Activists
Occupy Oakland
Oakland, CA
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2011 Writing the Body Poetic
Oakland Public Library
Oakland, CA
SERVICE:
2020, '21 Faculty Advisor
Dean's Honors Symposium
Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts
The New School
New York, NY
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2008-2010 Faculty Advisor
Gay Straight Alliance
United for Success Academy
Oakland, CA
2008-2009 Co-facilitator
Girls Therapy Group
United for Success Academy
Oakland, CA
2007-2010 School Climate and Culture Committee
United for Success Academy
Oakland, CA
2003 Street Outreach Volunteer
Alternatives For Girl
Detroit, MI
HONORS AND AWARDS:
2017 Notable Essay, Best American Essays (edited by Leslie Jamison)
2017 Nominee, Best of the Net
2012 Nominee, Pushcart Prize
2012 Lambda Literary Emerging LGBTQ Writer Fellowship
2012 Nominee, Jackson, Phelan, and Tanenbaum Literary Awards, The San Francisco Foundation
2011-12 Spirit of Goddard Scholarship
2005 Cum Laude with Honors, Wayne State University
2003-05 Joseph and Mary E. Yelda Endowed Merit Scholarship in English (three year, full tuition)
2002 Board of Governors Scholarship
2002 Albert Feigenson Music/English Scholarship
2002 Michigan Competitive Scholarship
RESIDENCIES AND WORKSHOPS:
2018 Rivendell Writers Colony
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2017 Vermont Studio Center
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2017 Sundress Academy for the Arts
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2012 Lambda Literary Foundation Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices
PUBLICATIONS:
Chapbooks:
2012 Split, Unthinkable Creatures Chapbook Press (hybrid nonfiction)
Books In Progress:
What We Lost (creative nonfiction)
The Missing (poetry)
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Prose in Books, Journals, Websites, and Magazines:
2018 "A Hunger for Truth and a Taste for Toppings: A Conversation with Eileen G'Sell," The Fan Zine, thefanzine.com
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2017 "Adoption is a Feminist Issue: But Not For the Reasons You Think," The Establishment,
theestablishment.co. Reprinted in syndication on HuffPost, huffingtonpost.com and Role Reboot, rolereboot.org
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2017 "This Morning I Woke Wet With Grief," Dear Adoption, dearadoption.com
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2016 "What We Lost: Undoing the Fairytale Narrative of Adoption," The Rumpus, therumpus.net
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2015 "In Some Darker Place," The Writer in the World, thewriterintheworld.com
2013 from Split, Jupiter 88, #257, jupiter88poetry.blogspot.com
2012 “The Way a Family Can Be Built,” Loved Lettered. lovedlettered.wordpress.com
2012 “Gestation,” make/shift magazine, Issue 11
2006 “The Silence That Surrounds: Queer Sexual Violence and Why We’re Not Talking,” We Don’t Need Another Wave:
Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists, Seal Press
2005 from Evidence, Wayne Literary Review, Issue
2005 from Evidence, The F-Word Zine, Issue
2004 “This is Self Defense,” Radical Detroit: A Journal of Political and Cultural Resistance, Issue 1
Poetry in Books, Journals, and Magazines:
2015 "3 Poems," HOLD: A Journal, Issue 1
2014 "3 Poems," The Feminist Wire. thefeministwire.com
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Journalism
2014 "I See Your Dreams Coming True: Venzella Joy Williams on Touring with Beyoncé," Tom Tom Magazine, Issue 19
2014 "Alassandra Sbrana of Skinflint," Tom Tom Magazine, Issue 17
2005 “An Interview with Dyann Logwood, Co-Creator of HUES Magazine,” The F-Word Zine, Issue 2
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SELECTED PERFORMANCES, PRESENTATIONS, INTERVIEWS, AND PANELS:
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July 2020 "Dream-Mapping Adoption and Foster Care Abolition," Conference session co-presented at the Allied Media Conference (virtual)
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October 2018 "We Are Really Straight: LGBTQ Adoption and the Homo-normative Family Romance," Paper
presented at the Conference of the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture, Oakland, CA.
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October 2018 "Adoption and Reproductive Justice," talk given at the Concerned United Birthparents Retreat, Tampa,
FL.
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September 2017 Queer/Trans/National Adoption Politics: An Adoptee Roundtable, Center for LGBTQ Studies, The CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY, Organizer and Panelist
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August 2017 Family Matters Roundtable, Woodhull Foundation Sexual Freedom Summit, Washington D.C., Panelist
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July 2017 AdopteesOn Podcast, http://www.adopteeson.com/listen/s2e12liz, Featured Guest
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April 2017 Yes/And: Adoptee Writers on Intersectional Trauma and Identity, American Adoption Congress
Conference, Atlanta, GA, Panelist.
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April 2017 826NYC, Brooklyn, NY, Featured Reader
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March 2017 For Opacity: Visceral Poetics Now, Poetry Symposium, St. Marks Poetry Project, New York, NY, Featured Reader
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February 2017 Fairweather Reading Series, Casa Libre, Tucson, AZ, Featured Reader
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February 2017 Indiana Adoptee Network News Podcast,
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indianaadopteenetworknews, Featured Guest
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November 2015 Lambda Literary Foundation Alumni Reading, Center for Lesbian and Gay
Studies, The CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY, Featured Reader
October 2015 Bluestockings Books, New York, NY, Featured Reader
May 2015 Open-Toe Peepshow: a Queer Art Salon, New York, NY, Featured
Performer
April 2015 Bluestockings Books, New York, NY, Featured Reader
February 2015 La Casa Azul Books, New York, NY, Featured Reader
August 2014 "Hauntings and Banishings: Loss and Rage for a
Queer Adoptee," Autostraddle, www.autostraddle.com, Interviewee
June 2013 Manifest Reading Series, Oakland, CA, Featured Reader
August 2012 Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Fellows Reading, Los Angeles, CA,
Featured Reader
March 2012 Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture International Conference,
Adoption Memoirs, Poetry and Performance, The Claremont Colleges,
Pomona, CA, Panelist
January 2012 East/West Salon, Oakland, CA, Featured Artist
January 2012 Goddard College, Graduate Student Readings, Plainfield, VT, Featured Reader
January 2012 Teaching Practicum Training, Godard College, Plainfield, VT, Panelist
November 2011 Modern Times Books, Book Launch for Love Cake by Leah Lakshmi
Piepzna-Samarasinha, San Francisco, CA, Featured Reader
March 2011 Tranza: A Benefit for Scenes Unseen, Los Angeles, CA, Featured Reader
August 2009 The Garage Theater, Queer Girl Theater Project, San Francisco, CA, Featured Reader
June 2007 San Francisco Gay Pride, Writer’s Village Stage, San Francisco, CA, Featured
Reader