It's not as much about me being unhealthy as it is about how I was never really taught how to be healthy in what I consumed and how much of it I consumed. My parents tried to get me into physical activities when I was younger; I tried and failed to participate well in soccer, dance, aerobics, and swim. As a high school senior, I was assigned a food journal for my health class where I logged what I ate and those foods' nutritional values for two weeks. That's when I started no

You haven't heard from me much nowadays because I'm trying to keep up with the academic rat race. Here's what is going on behind the scenes of my life during my last year of graduate school. at least I find peace in the hotel pools when I am far from home Present & Publish I have been hustling to publish my work for the last three years. Different parties have different understandings of the research to publication pipeline. Some recommend turning seminar papers into conferen

I've always felt kind of strange praying in front of other people. There's a performative aspect to it where I feel pressure to say the right words and pray for the right things. I feel pressure to look a certain way: head down, eyes closed, hands folded, and in the quiet. Matthew 6:5 says to not pray in public for the sole purpose of being seen as righteous and religious. The strangeness only increases with public worship, as I wonder if my lack of singing ability distracts

One of my favorite things about academia is attending conferences. Conferences provide me with opportunities to be inspired by the work of others in the field, support my friends and colleagues, and meet scholars I look up to. My favorite conference has been NCTE's Conference on College Composition & Communication (CCCC). This is one of the largest national conferences in my field, and it has been welcoming to me as a budding scholar and graduate student. Here, I want to shar

I don't know if it's the inner misogynist in me or if I just had difficulties with emotions when I was younger, but I wasn't much of a crier growing up. I had seen many a movie, played many games, and listened to many songs. The only media I remember crying during was Toy Story 3 , Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness , and Hachi. Even then, my cries were like a single manly tear, barely shed and shed in silence. I felt tough. Fast-forward 15 years and now I feel li

Spiritual Gifts In my early adulthood, I wanted to know what my spiritual gift(s) was. Spiritual gifts, according to their mythology when I grew up, were traits a Christian was born again with that could be used to bless God, others, and themselves. The Bible lists several examples in Corinthians and Romans: healing (1 Corinthians 12:9) prophecy (1 Corinthians 12:10) speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10) interpreting tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10) administration (1 Corinth

I originally created this blog in 2024 with my ideas to share with my community, family, friends, and colleagues. Around the same time, I started writing for the NDSU Spectrum opinions section. I'm a creator and a writer. Teaching and scholarship is often not enough for me. That's why I found new outlets to share my voice through. Fall 2025 was particularly rough on me. I had a severe infection in August and a surgery that followed while I prepared to teach a new online cours

Dear co-workers and scholars, This is going to be a difficult blog post for me, so I appreciate your patience and willingness to hear me...

trigger warning: descriptions of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse Amazon's new season of Shiny Happy People focuses on Teen Mania ,...

After my prospectus was approved in May, I moved forward with my dissertation research as best as I could. I've also been preparing for...

What is a Privilege Walk? In my teaching credential program in 2017, one of my classes had me and my classmates perform a privilege walk...

Recently, the US Department of Education created a webpage to EndDEI . The site says " this submission form is an outlet for students,...

I often distract myself from the woes of the world by surrounding myself with research and non-fiction reading. Unfortunately, this...

Rejection sensitivity is striking again in my life, but this time it is in my personal life rather than work. Let me tell you, feeling...

advertised photos with scribbled edits in hair, make-up, and clothing (2012) The Story The first thing I did in 2025 was curse someone....

As the year comes to a close, I'll be doing a short blog series on red flags I've encountered in the past and what to avoid in the...

As the year comes to a close, I'll be doing a short blog series on red flags I've encountered in the past and what to avoid in the...

As the year comes to a close, I'll be doing a short blog series on red flags I've encountered in the past and what to avoid in the...

As the year comes to a close, I'll be doing a short blog series on red flags I've encountered in the past and what to avoid in the...

This week, I finally met with a certified navigator. For those who don't know, navigators are certified to help people navigate the...