About

I am a PhD Candidate in the Urban Education program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. My research agenda focuses on the nonprofit education of adult immigrants. I moved to New York in 2014 and quickly fell in love with the dynamic, progressive culture and people of this city. 

I have a background in applied linguistics, and specialize in bilingual education, second/additional language acquisition, and adult ESL. I am an adjunct professor at Hunter and City Colleges, where I teach graduate-level courses to NYC Teaching Fellows working in New York public schools.

The name “Ahead of the Hydra” refers to the second labor of the Greek hero, Hercules, in classical mythology. Hercules was sent to kill the Hydra, a terrible monster with nine heads that killed anyone who came near the spring it guarded. The Hydra is a symbol for the many ills plaguing our country today; education is but one part of a system that serves the powerful and strangles the weak.

Yet it is with positivity that this blog is written, and therein lies the second meaning of the name; there can be better times ahead and new ways of reconstructing education as a condition of real democratic change. What lies beyond is up to us to create, once we’ve written enough truth to make the path plain.