About Me
I'm a first generation Iraqi-Chaldean American and a proud native of Southern California. I earned my MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts from UC Riverside, and my BA in Screenwriting and Sociology from Loyola Marymount University with summa cum laude honors before serving as a Fulbright Scholar in Malta, where I taught Creative Writing to middle grade students and lectured in Rhetorical Studies at the University of Malta. I'm a full-time Professor of Rhetorical Arts at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a freelance writer for The Chaldean News. I'm currently at work on co-authoring a novel based in part by my cultural upbringing as a Middle Eastern American.
When I'm not writing, teaching, or pondering over life's greatest questions with those I'm fortunate enough to call my friends, family, and colleagues, I can be found planning my next trip (to Disneyland AND to a never before explored city/country), listening to a podcast, watching/analyzing films, drinking coffee, collecting anything and everything giraffe related, trying out new recipes in my kitchen, and walking about neighborhoods and nature in beautiful Southern California.
Media Links:
A Maltese Melting Pot
We Are All Americans
When I'm not writing, teaching, or pondering over life's greatest questions with those I'm fortunate enough to call my friends, family, and colleagues, I can be found planning my next trip (to Disneyland AND to a never before explored city/country), listening to a podcast, watching/analyzing films, drinking coffee, collecting anything and everything giraffe related, trying out new recipes in my kitchen, and walking about neighborhoods and nature in beautiful Southern California.
A Maltese Melting Pot
We Are All Americans
