About
My early experiences of place-based narratives and regional identity form my understanding of public history and the institutions that maintain it: My mother worked part-time in the local history museum before I started Kindergarten while my father worked night shifts at General Motors. When childcare was hard to find, she would bring me with her. I got my first job at the museum, and I worked there every summer until college, the museum being one of few opportunities to earn money in the rural Wisconsin town where I grew up. As I learned then, traditional institutions serve an important role in a community by preserving local identity. At the same time, these institutions can easily become fixed, and no longer reflect the values of the communities they serve.Institutions are not too big or established to evolve, however fixed, and instead of falling into feelings of cynicism or powerlessness, I am motivated to expose the points I can leverage for reform. These days, when I’m not campaigning to remove monuments in a local public park or protesting weapons manufacturers who sit on the board at the Whitney, you can find me meeting friends for coffee or walking my dog where I now live with my partner in Kingston, New York. In 2024, with the support of doctors, family, and friends, I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and am currently navigating an understanding of a life with disability.