About

I am a Ph.D. student in the English department at Cornell University. Before coming to Cornell, I was a visiting fellow in the history department at Harvard University. Much of my research focuses on capitalism and the limits of free speech in the United States.

My scholarship, op-eds, and creative writing have been published by The Journal of American Culture, The Journal of Popular Culture, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Newsweek, The Nation, Vice, Salon, Slate, Rattle, Southwest Review, and the Sunday edition of The Boston Globe, among other places.

In the past, I have interviewed Murderabilia collectors, UFC fighters, documentarians, and other individuals. Currently, I am interviewing publishing executives, literary agents, and other people to better understand how social media has reshaped American literature.

Along with sociologists in the Cornell Social Dynamics Lab, I am also conducting experiments with hundreds of readers to illuminate why people take offense to literature. This research informs my first book, which focuses on books that have been censured on Goodreads, Twitter, and other platforms.

The first chapter won the Moses Coit Tyler Prize, jointly awarded by the English and history departments at Cornell, while the empirical research was funded by Cornell’s Truman Capote Award as well as a grant from the American Studies Program.

Off campus, I am a writing mentor in PEN America’s Prison Writing Program.