1. I broke five vertebrae when I was 14 years old. I grew up in Buffalo, NY (Go Bills!), and we had half-day Fridays during the winter for ski club. It was a really icy day and I slipped off of the chair lift at 20 feet above the ground. I was incredibly lucky that I was born with a short tailbone, or so the radiologist told me. I managed to recover after laying in the hospital for one month and wearing a brace for four months. And, I still ski!
2. I am the youngest of three and the only girl. My brothers are both writers. The eldest wrote the novel “The Sound of the Trees” and my second eldest brother’s movie “Sharper” will debut on Apple TV this February. Check it out.
3. I love to travel. I have lived abroad in London, Spain, and Trinidad & Tobago. I spent my first semester of college in London, a year in my early 20s in Spain, and a year after grad school in Trinidad. While all of my experiences were transformative, Trinidad had the greatest effect on me.
4. A Fulbright fellowship in 2011 brought me to Trinidad, but my relationship with a particular family, the Grangers, has brought me back year after year. Since 2014, I have helped run a volunteer farming program for the family’s organic farm, One Family Farm. We have hosted more than 200 people from all over the world. You can find our farm on WWOOF and workways sites and order pepper sauce and tambrind sauce through me. This January, my husband and our one-and-a-half-year-old daughter returned after a three year hiatus. It was a pretty spectacular reunion and experience.
5. My first job out of college was a whitewater rafting photographer on the Rio Grande in New Mexico. This was pre-digital so we had to shuttle the film back to the shop in between boats to process in time.
6. My aunt works at Saturday Night Live so almost every year since I was 15, I have been fortunate to see a show and hit up the after party. Most memorable conversations were with Chris Farley, Molly Shannon, and Jimmy Fallon.
7. I met my husband in graduate school at RISD. He is a sculptor and my best art critic. Our favorite trip was our honeymoon to Japan during cherry blossom season. During Covid, we transformed our chicken coop into an art studio.
8. In 2015, I travelled to Ghana with two of my students from Middlebury College and filmmaker Sunita Prasad to make a short documentary about the stigma of Vodu and African traditions. During the trip, we met a Bokor, Vodu priest, who interrupted a divination for my student to tell me that I would have two children. I am currently pregnant with my second, so I guess he was right!
9. I played ice hockey as a kid before my ski accident and still love the sport. We go to see my nephew, who is in the junior hockey league, play as much as we can.
10. I love to cook. Just kidding.
