I earned my doctorate in Germanic Languages at UCLA in 1992 after having received my MA and BA in German at the University of Iowa. Squeezed in there were many years living and studying in Freiburg, West Germany.
In addition to Santa Rosa Junior College, I am currently an adjunct professor at Sonoma State University in German and Liberal Studies and at Humboldt State University in German and Women's Studies. Prior to moving to Sonoma County I taught eight years at Pepperdine University in Malibu. In Los Angeles I also taught at the Goethe Institute. As a graduate student I taught German at UCLA and at the University of Iowa.
I had a very happy childhood growing up on the high banks of the Mississippi River in Burlington, Iowa. Our family did a lot of singing in harmony. There were many German-speaking children in the neighborhood whose language abilities I envied. I began formal piano training at age 8 and ten years later became a piano major at the School of Music at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. I sang in many high school and college choirs and began studying German while a music major.
Then I quit school and went on an adventure to Freiburg, West Germany and everything went CLICK! Uh...I mean KLICK!
Teaching German language brings me joy as I watch students turn into German speakers before my eyes. I also adore teaching German literature.
I am also an elementary school music teacher, teaching vocal music, rhythm, music theater, and dance at West Side School and Alexander Valley School in Healdsburg.
I am a visual artist, painting in oils, using the sight-size method of realist painting.
I am a singer and performer, currently focusing on the work of Joni Mitchell.
Teaching interests: German Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies; Liberal Studies; Poetry; Writing; Gender Studies; The Womb Narrative in Literature; The Poetry of Joni Mitchell; Childbirth as Ritual in US Hospitals; Social/Emotional Literacy; Piano; Vocal Music; Oil Painting.
PUBLICATION:
Book: The Body and Eucharistic Devotion in Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg's “Meditations.” Camden House, Columbia, SC, 1996.
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS:
“The Influence of the Womb Narrative on the Life and Work of Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg: 'Von Marien Schwanger-gehen' and the Poet in Gestation.” Paper presented at the German Studies Association Conference in Portland, Oregon, October 2019.
“'Gottpreis=loben ist ja dein Beruff und Stand:' Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg's Voice of Spiritual Authority.” Paper presented at the MLA Convention in Chicago, 1995.
“'Von Marien Schwanger-gehen' and the 'Abendmahls=Andachten:' Gender Awareness and Gender Identity in Greiffenberg's Betrachtungen.” Paper presented at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, 1992.
“In Praise of God and the Female Experience: Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg's Menschwerdung.” Paper presented at the MLA Convention in Washington D.C., 1989.
“'An solchen Stellen spricht . . . in der Dichterin die Frau:' Bringing the Woman in Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg out of the Shadows.” Paper presented at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, 1987.