My research and teaching has been inspired by these related questions: What is the rhetorical power of witness in public discourse? How is witness related to reciprocity? How can reciprocity be enacted? In particular, how is reciprocity experienced—and enacted—in the classroom?
These questions have led me to write about advocacy and the public sphere, particularly the way rhetors in disadvantaged positions engage in public discourse. My work has also considered the ways public sphere issues manifest in physical spaces. Under this broad framework, I have studied the rhetoric of witness in prison writing, women’s presence on urban streets, human trafficking, and the articulation of alternative economies.
As a compositionist, I also study and teach genre, style, editing, and DIY publishing. From 2009-2013, I was the features editor of the Lexington newspaper North of Center, an experiment in grassroots community writing and activism. From 2015-2016, I was managing editor of The Whole Horse Project, a collaborative online publication built in a dialogic format. In 2023, I started The Canelands, a print magazine of reason and rumination, for which I am editor-in-chief.
My current pedagogical research focuses on writing curriculum and eudaimonia, the ancient Greek term for human flourishing. Under this rubric, I have developed undergraduate eudaimonia courses on argument, contemplative writing, and natural history writing. My most recent project was a course on “rewilding” that combined natural history writing and mindfulness. That course ran in two versions: traditionally on campus and experientially in the forest. I am at work on an article about eudaimonia, Writing majors, and genre as an avenue of inter- and intra-subjective experience.
