About Me

Hi! I'm a United Methodist graduate student studying applied math and atmospheric science at Columbia in New York City.

I grew up in large UMCs in the southern plains. I spent the past four years at Olin College in Needham, MA, and I was a member of a very small Methodist church nearby. That community really encouraged me, helped me grow, and gave me opportunities to be involved in a number of ways both within the congregation and in the broader UMC. I've also had very formative experiences in Episcopal/Anglican churches and, more recently, a Catholic student group.

I love hymnody, liturgy, and reading the Bible in different languages. My favorite hymns are "O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing," "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," and "How Firm a Foundation." I'm very Wesleyan in my view of grace and sanctification, and those are the bits of theology to which I'm most attached, but I'm fascinated by theology and differences across denominations in general. I feel very strongly about involvement of young people in the church and about the importance of God's calls to all kinds of ministry (not just ordained), so ask me about those things if you want to get me talking.

I love teaching, and I spend a lot of my free time working as a teaching assistant, both online and at college, mainly for math courses. My online students range from 1st grade to 9th or 10th grade, depending on the course. I also enjoy dancing (especially jazz, modern, and contra) and riding roller coasters.

The title of this blog is the first line of a hymn, "Come and Find the Quiet Center," usually set to Beach Spring, one of my favorite hymn tunes. My first post on this blog was about the hymn and how God finds scope for our faith. The url comes from an Advent hymn, "If God Can Find a Corner Small," which expresses a complimentary idea about finding room within ourselves for faith. I wrote about it here.