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Raised in Fairbanks, Alaska and eeking toward some level of maturity in California, I now live in New England. Drawn to music early on and especially fascinated by the drum set and the saxophone, I recall the moment outside the bandroom in high school when I thought, “This is not what grown women do.” I went off to college and left the saxophone behind, only to tear up just hearing a saxophone on the radio. I graduated from Stanford University with a degree in International Relations, moved to San Francisco, bought a saxophone at a pawn shop South of Market, and here we are. (So kids, just follow your bliss.) I’m currently writing a book entitled, The Courage to Hear: Jazz Traditions and the Price of the Ticket, based on the good, the bad, and the ugly of what I have learned trying to learn jazz. My blog posts reveal some of this story.

This academic year (2024-25) you can find me at Harvard where I am a Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.