I’m a writer, teacher, and scholar of myth and story. I’m currently a Professor of English in Los Angeles, where I teach courses in U.S. literature, Los Angeles literature, and mythology.

At one point I thought I might be a preacher. Once I decided that wan’t quite for me, I went to grad school. My academic training is in American literature and environmental theory. In the early part of my career I became a big-ish fish in a very small pond and helped establish ecopoetry as a literary field.

After moving to Los Angeles, my research shifted along with my geography. I began writing about LA literature and culture, paying particular attention to how myth, landscape, history, and inequality intersect in the city. That work helped further shape how I think about teaching, narrative, and lived experience.

Over the last several years, my work has taken a more personal and interdisciplinary turn. Alongside academic writing, I’ve worked extensively as a ghostwriter, while writing some fiction along with dozens of country heartbreak songs. At the same time, my scholarly focus has increasingly centered on myth and narrative, especially as they relate to what Carl Jung called “the second half of life.”

I’m currently completing a second PhD focused on comparative myth, and how stories can speak to how we live and help us do so more deeply.