Cathy

After a career as an Olympic sports writer and editor for Pindar Press, I teach literature and writing to students who are as wonderfully barmy as any bobsledder and at the same time can probe the deep questions about conscience and human dignity. I teach how to read for complexity, or as one student said, “In previous years, I would read a piece of text without going into depth, but you helped me realize that every little thing an author does is for a reason.” I teach my students how to read for literary devices, how to unpack their first impressions, and then how to turn those observations into a debatable argument with concrete support. I taught several years in middle school and at Beacon High School where I developed methods for writing academic and personal college application essays that stand out because my students harness their creative voice.
I received an M.A. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia after graduating Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, and receiving the Blanche Colton Williams Award from Hunter (Honors Program). If you had told me in high school when I was focused on becoming a professional dancer that one day I would be a writer and editor, I would have guffawed. I build confidence in my students so they can be concise, clear, compelling writers from the start.