I am a writer and urban/cultural sociologist (PhD) who uses social analysis as a lens for all I write. Combining scholarly research, lived experience, and literary techniques, I write essays, fiction, and articles exploring cultural betweenness, urban space, and the intersection of place and identity in unstable or disrupted environments. My writing on cities, architecture, and emotional survival has been published in print and online, and since 2022, my reviews and analyses of storytelling for the screen have appeared weekly at Dramabeans. As an urban scholar, I have presented my research in the US, the UK, Portugal, Brazil, Sweden, and Chile, and have also edited and translated the work of other writers, thinkers, and artists from around the world. Currently, I am crafting my first novel.

Extended bio:

Born and raised in rural, upstate New York, I spent the next 20 years in major cities throughout the world. Existing in between rural and urban — but also between continents, cities, cultures, and socio-economic classes — gave shape to my thinking on how place and identity are tightly intertwined. But also: how perpetual motion — whether through migration, social mobility, or displacement — continually disrupts the narrative, creating a constant outsider identity. 

The sense of being an outside observer led me to sociology, where I earned a BA, MA, and PhD, living between Europe, South America, and the US while studying cities, architectures, and cultures. My research in Santiago, Chile, resulted in The Social Roles of Buildings: An Account of Materiality and Meaning in Urban Outcomes (2017), and inspired me to combine my academic and artistic practices. In thinking about "betweenness," I have written research articles on architectural "between spaces" (stoops in Harlem; patios in Santiago), as well as personal essays on residing between places (from transnational living to unstable housing). 

I am currently based in New York and Chile, writing an urban novel/love story centered on themes of identity, violence, trauma, and international migration, set between two post-colonial cities.