About Me

  

Hello fellow bloggers!

I want to take a few moments and tell you some things about myself to help you get to know me better. I grew up in a small town on California’s Central Coast (Lompoc, California). My father was a captain in the United States Air Force and my mother was a midwife and labor and delivery nurse. They’re both retired now, but it’s funny when I think back to my life growing up and how I always had to find a way to strike a balance between my dad’s insane need for order and structure (hence, the military) and my mom’s tendency to want to let me do my own thing. Definitely a source of mixed messages when it came to what was expected of me!

If you would have told me when I was 17 that I would one day end up back in high school, teaching English, I would have probably just scoffed in your general direction and walked away. I never enjoyed school, mostly because I didn’t see anything relevant in what was being taught, but also because I was always kind of a misfit growing up. I still am. However, now that I’m older,  I understand that nobody really fits in and everyone is just pretending in some way or another. What does it mean to fit in anyway? For me, now, I’ve found my place in the world and I’m happy with the way things are. I see everything I went through when I was young as a ragged path toward the place where I truly belong.

I enrolled in a community college the semester after I graduated from high school, but I promptly dropped out because I saw school as an endeavor that other people wanted me to take on. I really had no clue what I truly wanted to do with my own life, but I knew for sure that I didn’t want to waste time bending to the wills of other people. I spent a few years just waiting tables at a local restaurant. I went through a period in the years after high school where I was really bummed out that my life didn’t seem to have any purpose. I remember having a conversation one day with a highway patrol officer who used to visit the restaurant at the end of his shift and drink coffee at the bar. I can’t remember what it was about this particular conversation that lit the fire within me, but I distinctly remember having a revelation: I am passionate about helping people! This was the turning point in my life. I have always loved reading and writing (that said, I always hated and I continue to hate being told what to read and write), so I decided to combine my love for words and ideas with my passion for helping people. I decided that I wanted to go back to school and become an English teacher!

Fast forward a few years. I ended up moving to Northridge and enrolling at CSUN. There was nothing specific about the school that appealed to me save for the fact that their education program is highly reputable. I really just wanted to get out of the small town where I had grown up: far enough away that I wouldn’t have to bump into people I knew at the grocery store, but close enough that I could visit my family for holidays or extra long weekends.

I met my husband about a year after I moved to LA. What I loved about him (and what I still love about him) is that he was just as weird as I was! He’s probably a bit weirder…I recognize that now. He was a grad student at Cal State LA, studying philosophy. When he was accepted into his PhD program all the way out on Long Island, I was faced with a choice: I could end this relationship and stay in California or I could uproot and start a new life out in New York. I chose the latter, obviously, as you all know. This was definitely the biggest decision I have ever had to make, but looking back now that I know how things have turned out, the choice was a no-brainer.

I spent the next four and a half years in New York City. I got my first teaching job at a small charter school in Brooklyn, New York. The lessons I learned while I lived and taught in New York are too abundant to list here, but I will just say that those experiences shaped me tremendously. I was so far removed from the challenges faced by kids in the inner city. But I did my best and I went at it with my entire heart and soul. The students I taught challenged me in ways I never could have anticipated. I keep in touch with many of my former students and just last year I was able to congratulate students that I taught my first year in New York as they graduated from college and beat odds that were stacked against them. My understanding of the world and of the way things are for people in this country was forever changed. Going into teaching, I knew only a fraction of what there is to know, and I am completely humbled by the recognition that I will never truly know everything there is to know. My goal is to never stop learning and to continue honoring everyone for their own unique experiences.

Before I sign off there is some additional information you need to know about me. I have a beautiful baby boy who turned ONE on Thanksgiving just this year. He is the light of my life: Kamran. As I said before, I have a passion for helping people. The human condition is what makes me tick. I wish more people were open about the things that move them because I believe we all could benefit from sharing stories. I love animals and I have a soft spot for members of society who are less fortunate than I am. Injustice makes me angry and I wish I could do more to prevent it.

I can’t wait to hear more about you all!