Of all the art on campus, this is my favorite. I use it on my home page: 
   because it reminds me of playing "red rover" when I was a school girl;
   because it suggests the exuberance of round, square, and contra dancing;
   because having it on campus makes this professor feel more at home; and
   because it reminds of me of six very special people in my life.

 

• I am a teacher, who has the honor of working with doctoral students who serve overwhelmingly in school districts and communities that outsiders have long forgotten, except when someone is looking for a "poster child" to illustrate their own notions of failure, without having the eyes to see success. I live in awe and wonder of the good that urban teachers do in small, seemingly inconsequential acts and through commitment to their profession.
• I am a writer. I am a reader. Not a day goes by that I do not spend a few hours chewing up text. And, I have long since ceased to merely "bark to the print" and now use the written word to tilt at windmills and find my voice, just as I take great care trying to help others find theirs. Coming as I do from agrarian Great Plains roots, being a radical feminist scholar meant taking a "path less traveled," overtly working against the very fabric of social life among my people. Not that this has ever been much of a deterrent.
  
• I travel, after long years being a dedicated armchair traveler. I intend to do much, much more, even if I have to work deep into my old age to afford it!
• I bird, hike, quilt, and detest the very thought of cleaning house. We all have our vices.