Outside Academe
I grew up in a small town in Southern Illinois (Centralia, IL - Go Orphans!), and as I like to describe it for non-midwesterners, I literally grew up between a cornfield and a soybean field. My family is large and blended, both sets of my grandparents were small farmers and my dad was a blue collar worker and my mom a receptionist. Myself and some of my siblings are first generation college graduates and have scattered around the country. As the youngest, by far, I have many nieces and nephews and even a few great ones.
In small town Illinois, I occupied my time with all kinds of lessons and school activities from dance to track to basketball to piano to honor societies. It was here in the fields and the wooded areas and creeks in between practices and rehearsals that I grew to love wildlife and nature. We had a small bit of wooded acreage that we put in the state's conservation fund, and I spent countless hours watching songbirds, squirrels, rabbits, deer, and even coyotes wander through our yard. We used this land too, raising chickens, hunting mushrooms, and gathering firewood. It was also here that I experienced my first disaster when a tornado destroyed our neighbor's home and all of our barns and outbuildings. I still think of the way the rural community of farmers and factory and service workers showed up the next morning delaying their own work to help us out when I head out to do my research interviews on community disaster resilience.
For undergrad, I headed to another small town in the midst of farmland, Murray, KY, to attend Murray State University on an academic scholarship (Go Racers!). After taking a Social Problems course for my Wildlife Biology degree, I was hooked. I switched my major to Sociology because, as I remember myself saying at the time, "I don't want to just tell people that the lake is polluted, I want to help them do something about it." I then collected survey data for my honors thesis on the environmental attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors of my fellow students. While at Murray, I continued my varied life of hobbies, minoring in dance and biology, being captain of the Racer Girls Dance Team and dancing and choreographing with the University Dance Company, teaching yoga, and performing various community service projects.
[After undergrad I spent time incubating, or more like staring wide-eyed asking "what do I do now?" So we'll skip on past this interlude of minimum wage service sector jobs and disenchantment...]
Still interested in the environment and wanting my work to have an impact on something besides my bank account, I decided to return for graduate school. Colorado State University had a focal area in environmental sociology and so I packed up my dog, Divot, and cat, Moo, and headed west. Since moving out west, I still loved nature, but differently than westerners do. I enjoy hiking and photography, but am not an avid backpacker or camper. I also ran with Divot, and we were champions for 3 years in the Windsor, CO 4th of July 4-legged 4k (in our age category)! I completed my first - and only - marathon, the Silverton Alpine Marathon in Sliverton, CO. Yes, I jumped in the deep end of the marathon pool with one that climbs a few thousand feet to above tree line in some of the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen. Besides running, I occupied my limited free time with sweet tea and a good book in my backyard hammock, yoga, snowboarding, basketball at the end of a long computer-filled day, trying out new vegetarian recipes, and, of course, hanging with friends old and new. I also love to travel and have been blessed to travel with educational opportunities to Ecuador, Germany, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, as well as many areas around the U.S.
In January 2013, I packed up Divot and Moo again into the front seats of a rental truck and drove from Colorado to College Station, Texas. We settled into a small, older home in a mixed race and income neighborhood. A lot less snowboarding, but generally the same life that I grew up with - good friends that are like family, food, and as much time outdoors as possible. But then it was another move, to another SEC school, LSU. After four wonderful years making great connections in work and friendship, I made the decision to move again. I accepted the position of Associate Executive Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University, beginning September 2018. Divot passed over the rainbow bridge while we lived in Louisiana, and Melleaux, a mixed breed brindle sweetheart, joined the Meyer pack. The three Ms - Michelle, Moo, and Melleaux - moved to Texas for the next adventure in 2018.
As I write a quick paragraph update in 2020, the pandemic has brought out my rural roots. I now have baby chickens I'm raising for backyard egg production, a huge garden I can barely keep up with by pickling its bounty, and numerous bird feeders. Moo passed over the rainbow bridge in 2019, yet the pandemic brought a new stray cat into my life who loves to be the adventure queen on a leash or in a backpack (yes, I need to get out much much more once the pandemic slows). We also added Artemisia, a shelter German Shepherd, to the crew. And she just loves all of us with every bit of anxious energy possible.
In small town Illinois, I occupied my time with all kinds of lessons and school activities from dance to track to basketball to piano to honor societies. It was here in the fields and the wooded areas and creeks in between practices and rehearsals that I grew to love wildlife and nature. We had a small bit of wooded acreage that we put in the state's conservation fund, and I spent countless hours watching songbirds, squirrels, rabbits, deer, and even coyotes wander through our yard. We used this land too, raising chickens, hunting mushrooms, and gathering firewood. It was also here that I experienced my first disaster when a tornado destroyed our neighbor's home and all of our barns and outbuildings. I still think of the way the rural community of farmers and factory and service workers showed up the next morning delaying their own work to help us out when I head out to do my research interviews on community disaster resilience.
For undergrad, I headed to another small town in the midst of farmland, Murray, KY, to attend Murray State University on an academic scholarship (Go Racers!). After taking a Social Problems course for my Wildlife Biology degree, I was hooked. I switched my major to Sociology because, as I remember myself saying at the time, "I don't want to just tell people that the lake is polluted, I want to help them do something about it." I then collected survey data for my honors thesis on the environmental attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors of my fellow students. While at Murray, I continued my varied life of hobbies, minoring in dance and biology, being captain of the Racer Girls Dance Team and dancing and choreographing with the University Dance Company, teaching yoga, and performing various community service projects.
[After undergrad I spent time incubating, or more like staring wide-eyed asking "what do I do now?" So we'll skip on past this interlude of minimum wage service sector jobs and disenchantment...]
Still interested in the environment and wanting my work to have an impact on something besides my bank account, I decided to return for graduate school. Colorado State University had a focal area in environmental sociology and so I packed up my dog, Divot, and cat, Moo, and headed west. Since moving out west, I still loved nature, but differently than westerners do. I enjoy hiking and photography, but am not an avid backpacker or camper. I also ran with Divot, and we were champions for 3 years in the Windsor, CO 4th of July 4-legged 4k (in our age category)! I completed my first - and only - marathon, the Silverton Alpine Marathon in Sliverton, CO. Yes, I jumped in the deep end of the marathon pool with one that climbs a few thousand feet to above tree line in some of the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen. Besides running, I occupied my limited free time with sweet tea and a good book in my backyard hammock, yoga, snowboarding, basketball at the end of a long computer-filled day, trying out new vegetarian recipes, and, of course, hanging with friends old and new. I also love to travel and have been blessed to travel with educational opportunities to Ecuador, Germany, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, as well as many areas around the U.S.
In January 2013, I packed up Divot and Moo again into the front seats of a rental truck and drove from Colorado to College Station, Texas. We settled into a small, older home in a mixed race and income neighborhood. A lot less snowboarding, but generally the same life that I grew up with - good friends that are like family, food, and as much time outdoors as possible. But then it was another move, to another SEC school, LSU. After four wonderful years making great connections in work and friendship, I made the decision to move again. I accepted the position of Associate Executive Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University, beginning September 2018. Divot passed over the rainbow bridge while we lived in Louisiana, and Melleaux, a mixed breed brindle sweetheart, joined the Meyer pack. The three Ms - Michelle, Moo, and Melleaux - moved to Texas for the next adventure in 2018.
As I write a quick paragraph update in 2020, the pandemic has brought out my rural roots. I now have baby chickens I'm raising for backyard egg production, a huge garden I can barely keep up with by pickling its bounty, and numerous bird feeders. Moo passed over the rainbow bridge in 2019, yet the pandemic brought a new stray cat into my life who loves to be the adventure queen on a leash or in a backpack (yes, I need to get out much much more once the pandemic slows). We also added Artemisia, a shelter German Shepherd, to the crew. And she just loves all of us with every bit of anxious energy possible.