I grew up in small-town Indiana and Georgia, went to college in Los Angeles (fight on Trojans!), and came to Atlanta in 2011 for a job at the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, where I get to act, sing, play music, and swordfight. Through that company, I also teach Shakespeare to students from elementary through high school. Beyond Shakespeare, I teach English of all kinds -- grammar, literature, writing and editing, you name it -- Spanish, and math through algebra. (My trigonometry and calculus from high school have abandoned me, I'm afraid.)

Other than teaching and acting, I sometimes pretend to be sick so Emory medical students can practice their patient interactions with me. I play golf with my friends. I'm trying to learn to throw a perfect knuckleball, because that pitch has always fascinated me.

I teach because it's meaningful work; no one's life was made measurably or permanently better when I was serving pizzas. Teaching, though, can have a lasting impact. I am where I am and even who I am because of my teachers: Lindsey J. taught me how to think; Deborah B. taught me how to write; Paul B. taught me the vast possibilities in my field; and David B. taught me how to live, actively, in the present moment. I am their lessons, and I am a better person for having met them. That's the importance of teaching: it's not simply giving facts, it's helping the student create his or her life.