Bio & Background

My work is rooted in a dual passion: that of a historian and writer, and that of a trained clinical herbalist and naturalist. These paths converge in my book, Potomac Fever: Reflections on the Nation's River, which is out now and has been receiving generous reviews. My essays, which have been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and recognized in The Best American Essays, can be found or are forthcoming in Orion, Fourth Genre, Literary Hub, and the Southern Humanities Review, among other publications.

I was born in the piedmont of North Carolina and raised in its mountains by folks from the state’s coastal plain. I hold a Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in American Studies, all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My dissertation there won multiple awards for innovations in public and digital scholarship. While in graduate school, I was a field scholar at the Southern Oral History Program and taught classes on race, place, and oral history.

I am currently the Writer-In-Residence at a boarding school in northern Virginia, where I teach American Studies, Environmental Writing, and the senior writing capstone course, and advise the student literary journal and newspaper. I also operate a small herbal practice for folks local to my slip of the Potomac River. I currently live in Glen Echo, Maryland, less than 700 feet from the banks of the Potomac. When not writing, reading, or teaching, you'll find me digging in the garden, botanizing by the river, or out on the trail, training for my second ultramarathon.