I spend a lot of time across most of my classes saying some variation of “all people have biases” to my students. I also know how important it is to consider positionality (and engage in reflexivity. Given that, I want to introduce myself to you so you can gain some insight into who I am and what some of the factors are the likely shape how I think about the world. You can learn a bit more about my teaching in a separate intro post, but this one is about who I am on a more basic level.
I am a white, cisgender woman. I use she/her pronouns.
I am a first-generation college student who grew up working class and now has a PhD.
I’m someone who strongly values public education, but I went to private school for 6 years and a college prep boarding school for 3 of those.
I am a teacher. I am a scientist. I am a feminist.
I am someone who lives with chronic health conditions related to both my physical and mental health, but I’m usually able to choose when and if to disclose these to others.
I am married to a male partner, and as I’ve aged and have learned more about myself and encountered more identity labels related to sexual and romantic attraction, I’ve found it harder to select a single label that fits how I understand myself.
I am a US citizen, and I only speak English well enough to communicate effectively with others.
I am a child of a single parent. I am childfree by choice. I have frequently found myself in the role of caregiver for adults in my life facing physical or mental health challenges.
I can’t imagine my life without animals to share it with. At the time of writing this post, that means 1 cat (Linden) and 2 dogs (Jazzy and Watson).
There are also many other aspects of my identity I could talk about, but I think this gives you a sense of who I am as well as how identity can be complex – even to those living it.
Importantly for this blog, it also gives you a bit of insight into aspects of my identity where I do or have experienced privilege.