Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact, language remains the master of man.” – Martin Heidegger

I am from southern Illinois but I have not lived there in a long time. Since leaving, I have lived in Montana, England, China, and India. I moved to Saint Louis during the pandemic, and am still getting the hang of the place. I like to travel and I have one of those maps where you scratch off countries you have been to. I still have a lot to scratch off.

I am just starting at Metro, but I am not a brand-new teacher. My first teaching job was in China, where I mostly taught very little kids to speak English. I have also taught history, ESL, special education, and driver's ed. I volunteer for the International Institute and teach a citizenship class there.

I am married to the woman with her back to me in the picture. Her name is Hayley and she is an ICU nurse at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. We live near Cherokee street and we both bike to work most days (we have ebikes; we are not in good enough shape to do the regular kind every day).

I like biking, camping, and outdoor activities, but no team sports. I watch lots of movies and try to watch as many weird foreign ones as my wife will agree to. I read all the time but I do not read very quickly. I am not a slow reader, but I like to take my time. I rarely read more than one book by the same author and therefore do not much care for series. I have to like an author a lot to read more than one of their books. There are so many authors I have not yet read. 

I am a friend to all animals, particularly cats.