I've lived in upstate New York almost all my life. I attended Catholic schools throughout my youth, and after finishing high school I spent a year as a philosophy major at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, NY, where I met my wife Louise. Most of my 20s were spent scuffling around, living on a commune on a farm owned by my wife's family, and working at a variety of low-paying jobs, mostly as a restaurant cook. When I returned to college, now as a music major, I was married and had a 3-year-old son, Nevin, but we made it through the experience somehow. I moved with my family to our beloved Ithaca in 1981 to complete a Ph.D. in musicology at Cornell. During my last two years at Cornell, I taught a first-year composition seminar on writing about music and completed a graduate seminar on teaching writing. Since 1988 I've taught English grammar and composition at Ithaca College. Just before I started teaching at IC, my second son, Tavis, was born. Although I don't pursue music as a profession, I still like to play my guitars, banjo, ukuleles, and the other instruments that litter my office at home. I occasionally write poetry.

Areas

• grammar, usage, and prose style
• nonfiction composition
• Writing Minor coordinator

Degrees

• Ph.D., Musicology, Cornell University, 1990
• M.A., Musicology, Cornell University, 1984
• B.S. magna cum laude, Music Theory, Nazareth College of Rochester, 1981