Grandma, Mother, Teacher, Scholar
I became a mother for the first time in 1979 and fourteen years later, on the exact same day, August 29, I became a mother a second time. I am so very fortunate to have two wonderful children, John and Anna, who have made my life an absolutely fun adventure with a few bumps in the road, but seriously, they are two very beautiful human beings, and I'm so grateful. I'm also a grandma to the two cutest grandchildren in the world as you can tell from the photographs above. I'm also a teacher and a scholar. I taught secondary English for 22 years; one year in Shenandoah, Iowa and the remainder in Aurora, Nebraska. In December 2011, I walked onto the stage in the Bob Devaney Center at UNL and received my doctoral degree, embarrassed that my mortar board fell off during the hooding ceremony. Harvey Perlman felt inclined to give me the piece of paper anyway! My scholarly interests lie in place conscious education, but specifically, issues of social justice within our local community concerning economic, cultural and environmental sustainability. This is my second year of teaching at Missouri State University and it is a privilege. I have taught Teaching Middle School and High School English methods for three semesters, facilitated the Ozarks Writing Project summer institute and have taught two graduate courses on place-conscious pedagogy and one on teacher leadership.
Anna English
This is our daughter, a junior advertising and public relations major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is also a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority, the Scarlet Guard and UNL ambassadors. She is also a fashionista, coffee drinker, Gilmore Girls and BuzzFeed fan. She also minors in English and theater and was recently accepted into UNL"s student advertising agency, Jacht. She also knows the sportscaster on Lincoln's KLKN pretty well even though he is a Cardinals fan and she is a lifelong Royals fan.
John and Amanda English
This is a light-hearted moment with my son and daughter-in-law at our English family reunion in May 2012. John teaches history at Boys Town and coaches football and track and Amanda is the director of the Pipal Community Center. They live in Omaha, Nebraska. They were the typical couple, having met while they were in college at the University of Nebraska-Kearney where John played football and Amanda was on the swim team.
Jerry English
My partner for almost 36 years, Jerry Lance English, is Grandpa, gopher, chief bottle washer and gardener in the English household. He has worked in landscaping, USDA Soil Conservation and auto parts. He now works at Bass Pro Sportsman Distribution Center where he ships or unpacks items from all over the world.! He's a dyed-in-the-wool Husker fan and a life-long Kansas City Royals fan.
