academics & teaching
academic writing
DeLillo’s Cultural Comedy: A Humour Study of Don DeLillo’s Early Novels
My Master of Arts Major Research Project. Basically a 96-page thesis that breaks ground by seeking out the mystery of Don DeLillo’s vast cultural inquiry through the synthesizing powers of the highly underappreciated and entertaining field of Humour Studies. Don’t worry, it’s split into chapters.
Primary sources of my research 
Humour and the Reality of Difference in One Good Story, That One
A look into the dangers of Western Liberalism’s borderless postmodern ideal, with a few jokes along the way. Written for a graduate school course on The Canadian Short Story.
Primary source
instructional handouts
Integrating Quotations: Avoiding Common Errors
An instructional handout that helps aspiring academics avoid common mistakes when “entering the conversation.”
How to Use Semi-colons and Colons in Your Writing
An instructional handout that teaches aspiring academics how to incorporate semi-colons and colons in their writing, in ways that will exceed their supervisors’ expectations.
teaching materials
Powerpoint Presentation on Julia Kristeva and her Theory of Abjection
I taught Kristeva’s theory as part of a Horror Literature course for gifted high school students who wanted university-level instruction.
Primary Source
PowerPoint Presentation on Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera + Sentence Composition
This PowerPoint presentation is for a class in the “Borders” unit of the AP English Language and Composition course I teach. Includes a grammar section on sentence types that show up in the multiple choice section of the exam. I pair the presentation with an in-class handout to keep things interactive (sometimes we have a sentence-writing contest, with prizes!).
Primary Source
*Sentence composition section begins on p. 14 of pdf file.
How to Summarize an Argument
An example piece I wrote with accompanying annotations to show students how to summarize other writers’ arguments.
Primary Source
Handout on Aristotelian Logic + PR Statement Case Study
Taught with an accompanying PowerPoint presentation that provided a breakdown of Aristotle’s approach to using logic in arguments. The PR statement section is taught with reference to the writing sins George Orwell talks about in his essay, “Politics and the English Language.”
*PR statement case study section begins on p. 5 of pdf file.
Reading Package for AP English Language and Composition Course (Mary Hunter Austin’s The Land of Little Rain)
I wrote the author bio and provided footnotes and accompanying questions for students unfamiliar with the U.S. Southwest, circa 1903.
Primary Source
