The Basics:
Lives in: Grimes and Grinnell
Spouse/Partner: N/A
Children: N/A
Pets: I have one cat of my own, Bruno, plus 3 other cats at home (Q, V, and Tris) along with 2 golden retrievers (Gracey and Obi)
Education: Pursuing a bachelor of Arts in Gender, Women’s, & Sexuality Studies and History w/ an Education Concentration at Grinnell College
Paying Job: Full-Time College Student
Where did you grow up? Des Moines and Grimes, Iowa. I went to Johnston Community Schools K-12.
What do you like to read? I am a fantasy/romantasy girlie at heart, although there isn’t much that I am not willing to read. Currently I don’t get to read much outside of school, so lots of books about the Civil War, American Revolution (and it’s commemoration at its 250th anniversary), and feminist/disability education theory.
What is your favorite banned book? I change my answer to this question depending on the context of who is asking. My favorite book that I have read that happens to be banned is Fourth Wing. What I really love about this book is the underlying theme of how those in power erase truths from history, and how the main characters fight back. I am a firm believer in the power of both history and literature, so seeing it addressed in a fantasy novel at a military college with dragons and a badass female main character really stuck with me. However, in a more serious context my answer is The Handmaid’s Tale. It is a book that I recommend that everyone reads, as it is a chilling warning about how quickly democratic freedoms and women’s rights can fall to a totalitarian regime. And in a completely different vein my favorite children’s books are Not Quite Narwhal and Weather Together, about a narwhal who discovers he is a unicorn and then goes on in the next book to help support his Pegasus friend with depression.
Why do you do this work? When I was in tenth grade, extremists tried to ban books from my own English curriculum. I was one of the students they claimed to be protecting, but I didn’t appreciate adults deciding which books I could be trusted to read or which ideas I should be allowed to encounter. That experience shaped how I think about education, censorship, and intellectual freedom. Now, as a history student and future educator, I spend a lot of time thinking about who gets to tell their stories, whose voices are silenced, and what happens when people in power get to control information. History is full of examples of what happens when those in power get to decide which stories are told and which truths are erased. I do this work because I believe students deserve to be trusted to think critically, ask difficult questions, and make sense of the world for themselves. I’d rather be on the side making sure those stories get heard.
What else would you like readers to know? I’ve never been very good at accepting “that’s just how things are” as an answer. Most of the things worth changing started with someone deciding that wasn’t good enough.
We’ll introduce board member Emily in November!
