I'm Miranda. It's a pleasure to meet you.

I thought it would be nice to get started with a little biography. I'm not a terribly interesting person, but I do have lots of interests. I have a true passion for education and a thirst for learning that has never come close to being quenched, despite the fact that I am currently working on my second graduate degree. I believe that to stop learning is to stop living and that, as such, the desire to learn is the desire to live. Truly live.

I am from Salyersville, a small town in eastern Kentucky. I feel that I am blessed to live in one of the most beautiful areas of the country, perhaps even the world. I haven't done as much traveling as I would like, never having ventured outside of these great United States we inhabit, so I can't say that for sure, but it's one of those bone-deep truths that I just know to be valid, whether I have the empirical data to prove it or not.

I earned a Bachelor's degree in English and Philosophy from UC back in 2008, an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky in 2011, and here I am again, having come full circle, arriving back at the place I started from to perhaps begin again or to find a new path to travel altogether.

I hope to teach English to high school students here in my rural area. If I were a Miss America candidate, my platform would be literacy, so, you might want to avoid initiating conversations with me about that issue. I tend to carry my soapbox around with me where that is concerned. I think that it is deplorable that students who cannot read are still earning high school diplomas - I do understand that there are true learning disabilities which prevent students from reaching certain levels of mastery in reading and comprehension, but, there are so many cases where schools just pass students from one grade to another in order to shuffle the responsbility off on someone else. I hate that that is the case - I hate that I know that to be true. I will NEVER be the kind of teacher who hopes that someone down the line will help a student whom I failed to help. I hope that I can always be helpful, a tool, not only for learning, but for encouragement, advice, and inspiration. See? Soapbox.

I digress. As far as my personal likes and interests are concerned, I am motivated and inspired by the following things, in no particular order: reading, cooking, fashion, M*A*S*H reruns, embroidery, philosophical schools of thought, candy, music (listening, not composing or performing, although I wish that I could do either), writing poetry, word games, financial statements, the Kitchen Aid stand-mixer (not that I own one, yet), travel, American history, family lore, cats, the Game of Thrones series...mostly, though, my family, friends, boyfriend, and, I'm sure, once we've all gotten the chance to chat, I will be inspired and motivated by you fine folks as well.

Cheers!
M