Educated in anthropology and storied ethnography, I am in the last term of a masters program in applied arts and sciences. My focus is on social justice and power dynamics. I am a writer, independent researcher, and communications consultant for nonprofits. While I firmly lean left, I admit to my conservative family members that this is less due to compassion and more because I understand vast inequity and poverty to be social destabilizers. I would have been a New Deal sympathizer and believe government's role is to create a society of opportunity. My experience, however, has taught me... 'it's dadgum complicated.' On a personal note, I am a bleeding heart when it comes to animals, can't abide cruelty. I still carry a torch for a hedgehog I once rescued.