Born and raised outside of Boston, I began studying Russian during my first year as a student at Harvard University and graduated in 2002 with a BA in Russian Literature and Culture. After college I worked for eighteen months as an editor and English teacher in several cities in western Russia, including Tver’, Lipetsk, Ulianovsk and Orel. I had some wonderful adventures in Russia; I rode in a glider plane and computerized flight simulator, took French horn lessons, and learned to make pel’meni. I am currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I teach Russian language and literature. My research interests include Russian and Polish poetry, 20^th century Russian theater, the visual arts in literature, and second language acquisition. My dissertation research will examine the role of photography, optical devices and film in Russian poetry.