Why FSU?

The Creative Writing program's strong standing and Florida's warm weather.

Motivation to pursue a graduate degree

I was not finished after completing my master's and teaching. There was more that I wanted to learn and to write. In addition, a PhD will allow me to teach at a higher level.

Importance and impact of research

I write about toxic familial and cultural behaviors in Caribbean societies that are either blithely upheld as tradition or swept under the rug as nonexistent. Yet, that which is not acknowledged festers and inevitably surfaces to rupture through various noxious outlets. The ill effects are far-reaching, and no one is spared the splatter. The boil, rather, needs to be recognized, lanced, and drained, whereupon the hard work of healing can commence. This is what writing does. It holds up a mirror that forces us to face and accept reality instead of attempting to run from what is. Everyone should care because we are all interconnected, and dysfunction begets more dysfunction, which will eventually darken one's door.

Career aspirations

To write uncomfortable truths. To teach unacknowledged facts. To disrupt comfortable dysfunction.