For the last decade I have taught French in Georgia, first in an Atlanta elementary school and now in a Coweta County high school. Although I've tried my hand at office administration and computer systems management, teaching is the only vocation that has ever carried meaning for me. As much as I enjoy my high school students, I have to say it's the enthusiasm of kindergarteners that I love best.

As for my own education, I hold an MA in French literature from Clark Atlanta University, and prior to that I earned my BS in French language at Georgetown University. Currently, I am working on an EdS in Curriculum & Instruction from Capella University. My next step will be a PhD in francophone literature. The key to my educational success has been, and will continue to be, reading.

Reading is the single most important factor in improving my understanding of the world--at home and beyond. After reading, I like to share what I’ve learned. Many of my students refer to me as "the walking encyclopedia". Although I don't pretend to know everything, or even a lot, what I do know, I credit to my love of the printed word (on paper and online). Above all forms, I find the novel supreme in its representation of culture and society fitted neatly into the historical context of its times, and when you find a good one, it surpasses its own frame of reference to speak to future generations. Aside from novels, I explore poetry, read plays to stage in my head, peruse news and cultural magazines, surf the Web for miscellanea and minutia. Do I read everything I find? Alas, no. I read what I can when I find the time. I miss the commute time I used to have on the Washington DC metro because there I could read daily to my heart’s content.

Now that I've found BookCrossing.com, I have a way to share more readily what I love to do and to see and show how books can affect the thinking and the lives of others.

My favorite novel? That would have to be Les liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos, which I have read in French three times, and not because I didn't get it the first two times.

Happy reading!