I was raised in northeast Tennessee and attended Davidson College in North Carolina before pursuing graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I earned my MA there in 2008 — the same year my beloved Davidson Wildcats handily defeated the UW Badgers in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament — and my PhD in 2012. While there, I was awarded a College of Letters & Sciences Teaching Fellowship, recognizing outstanding undergraduate teachers.
In 2012 I moved to Abingdon, Virg...
