At the edge of the street in northern Ohio where I was raised, a large factory sat empty for a decade or more. Growing up in a deindustrialized region instilled in me a curiosity about vanishing class formations and cultural expressions. In my work, the literature produced by anticapitalists in the 19th and early 20th centuries provides a particularly rich archive of political possibility and coalition building. My book-in-progress, Bleeding Heartland: Race, Region, and Radicalism in Midwestern Writing, argues that a racially integrated public sphere emerged through partisan print cultures earlier and in more peripheral locations than scholars have assumed. With materialist readings of texts by socialists, anarchists, and Populists who wrote in marginal locations from Cincinnati to Kansas, the book unearths a period when the meaning of the “heartland” and the viability of mass, interracial social movements were in contest.

Essays based on my research have appeared or are forthcoming in peer-reviewed journals and books such as College Literature and Teaching the Rust Belt as well as public-facing sources including Jacobin, Chicago Review, Belt, History News Network, and the New Territory. A commitment to making scholarship accessible to diverse audiences animates my work, and I am passionate about writing for and speaking at a variety of community-oriented venues.

As a teacher, I’ve worked in formal and informal classroom settings ranging from private and public universities and writing centers to local bookshops and outdoor teach-ins. At Washington University, I offer courses in the English, American Studies, and writing programs. Beyond campus, I have created and facilitated programs for equitable educational exchange and participatory research for academics and St. Louis community members, most recently co-organizing the St. Louis Symposium for Radicalism in US Arts.

When I’m not writing, teaching, or scouring the archives, I enjoy drumming and spending time with my wife and our two cats, Ivy and Opal.