Hello!
Welcome to Untethered! I’m so glad you’re here.
I’m Jen, a former high school English teacher, turned college professor, and now a freelance writer and editor. I’m originally from a small Midwest town called Effingham. That’s right, F-ing-ham. It’s a place where Trump flags fly high and my parents’ neighbors thought my mom meant Paris, Illinois when she told them I was living in Paris last year.
My hometown sometimes feels more foreign to me than the countries I visit, though I am glad I grew up there. I like that my childhood summers were spent swimming in a nearby creek, playing in the woods with neighborhood kids, and riding my bike seven miles ‘to town.’
I attended college in another small town in Southern Illinois as a first-gen student. It was during this time that I first visited Chicago (Yes, I lived three hours south of Chicago my entire life but never visited until I was in college.) and later, New York City. I fell in love with New York, visiting as often as my budget allowed. I actually had a boyfriend at the time who accused me of loving New York more than him. He was probably onto something…
My world exploded in grad school, as I was exposed to new writers and philosophies and new cultures and ways of life in the cities I visited. I planned to move to NYC after I graduated, but in the summer of 2003, with an MA in literature and an 18-month-old baby, I moved to St. Louis where I spent the next 18 years. St. Louis feels like home–it’s where I raised my two kids, learned about life, and grew into the person I am today.
I don’t know whether it was determination or absolute defiance not to be boxed into preconceived notions of what it meant to be a single mom that led me to a Ph.D. program when Oliver was two and Emma was six. I am just that stubborn to make something like that work and to land a tenure-track position a year after graduation.
As a professor, I conducted ethnographic studies on girls’ education in India and Cambodia and presented research in places like Vancouver, Beijing, and Mexico City. I loved so much of the work, but it didn’t quite feel like where I belonged–academia and St. Louis. And so in 2018, I left academia to be a writer, and in June of 2021, I sold most of my personal belongings, closed up my life in St. Louis, and left the U.S.
I’m currently living in Mexico City after two-and-a-half years of being ‘nomadic.’ I still struggle with that word, though I didn’t have a legal address for over three years. Transitioning to this lifestyle hasn’t been the easiest, but it’s still one that makes sense to me. Looking back, much of my life has been a struggle between who I am and what I want out of life, which has always been in direct contrast with the more traditional environments in which I was raised.
I started Untethered to share stories about my experiences and the people and places that have enriched my life.
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Subscribing is an easy and meaningful way to support me and my work. Your support is greatly appreciated and makes the act of writing seem a little less isolating.
Right now, my posts are free for all subscribers, but I’m planning some Q&As and deep dives into coffee (and other passions–wine, food, Mexico City, Paris, etc.) for paid subscribers. Please subscribe if you haven’t done so already.
Most importantly, thanks for being here.
