About
About me
I’m a Ph.D. Candidate in English at Washington State University. I received my B.A. and M.A. from the University of Idaho in 2002 and 2004. Pedigree-wise, I’m a mutt: I studied postmodern American literature for my M.A., writing my thesis on the late great David Foster Wallace. But after Wallace, I just couldn’t get jazzed about any other contemporary U.S. writers, so I began looking at other interesting cultural “texts” and landed on a type of “text” that I’ve loved since I was a kid (thanks, Dad): videogames. Still being an English major, I’ve found Rhetoric and Composition a more appropriate disciplinary home than Literature for analyzing videogames. Essentially, I approach videogames from the viewpoint of contemporary rhetoric, seeing them as cultural artifacts whose design reflects ideologies that are currently bouncing around U.S. culture. The videogames that really catch my eye – and suck up my time – are Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), because they’re both texts and social spaces, and so studying them involves simultaneously unpacking how they’re designed and how they’re received. My dissertation will focus on the rhetorics of individuality in World of Warcraft.
About this site
Although the boundaries between “personal” and “professional” are fuzzy – especially for me, since I’ve made a profession of studying things that I personally love – this is a professional site. Let’s call it a portfolio-in-progress. As you can see, along with my CV and teaching record, my dissertation is here (or at least it will gradually appear here, as I compose drafts that are worth reading.) Anyone who feels like reading it and commenting on it is welcome to do so. My hope is that my work, while obviously coming out of academia, won’t only be a conversation with other academics. I believe that academics should engage the public, especially when they study culture, as I do. This is especially true in the realm of videogames, discussions about which are 1) already hugely inclusive, involving designers, academics, journalists, and players from all over the world; and 2) already online. So: with this blog and dissertation, I officially throw my hat into this ring.
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