Where I'm From & Where I've Been

My family roots are in Michigan, Kentucky, and Missouri, though I was born in Florida. Later, we moved to South Carolina, and I grew up in Easley just as the region's textile industry was beginning to collapse. My first two years at Clemson University, I studied electrical engineering, but I switched to English and philosophy. Then I earned an M.A. in folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, later returning to study for a Ph.D. in history there. Along the way, I have lived in Rock Hill (SC), Charleston (SC), Pine Ridge (KY), Superior (WI), the western exurbs of London, and Northumberland. I now live in Berwickshire in southern Scotland. Along with history, I have a longstanding passion for music, especially the traditional music of the South and of Ireland and Scotland, though I have also gotten quite interested in Gypsy music from the Balkans in the past few years.