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Lecturer

Department of English

Cal Poly Humboldt

Last updated: January 2024

I rarely have the pleasure of sharing the photography that I take when I am in the field but away from fieldwork. From 2009 to 2017, I traveled to Nicaragua to work with English teachers in remote areas. I take pictures that show the happiness, pride, and peace of Nicaragua and Nicaraguans, so I hope you enjoy a glimpse of my experience. Click on a photo to get a complete view and description.

Strength, balance, sustenance, life. Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017	This little schoolhouse sits on an island, and the teachers, little ones, and their parents boat to and from school. Las Isletas de Granada, Nicaragua, 2009.	Somoto Canyon and the Rio Coco, Somoto, Nicaragua, 2015.
The volcanoes Momotombo. y Momotombito, located in Lago Managua. Managua, Nicaragua, 2017.	My friend Roberto, an English teacher for the unique and empowering teaching-learning program called Systema de Aprendizaje Tutorial (Tutorial Learning System) listens to an English lesson on his cell phone through a small speaker that a colleague and I brought to him to use in his classroom. He could now plug the speaker into his cell phone to provide his students new aural activities. Most rural Nicaraguan classrooms function without electricity and cannot utilize ICT learning resources.	The famous "Molotov Man" photo turned into a mural. Somoto, Nicaragua, 2015. Molotov Man is the title of a photo by Susan Meisalas, then during the 1979 Nicaraguan revolution. The photo depicts Pablo 'Bareta' Arauz about to throw a Molotov cocktail, made from a Pepsi bottle, in his right hand, while holding a rifle in his left.
Siblings. During one of the stages of my fieldwork, I lived with these two little ones and their parents. Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017.	Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017	Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017.
Granada, Nicaragua, 2009.	During my dissertation fieldwork in 2017, I traveled to Esteli, Nicaragua to spend time with the Rodriguez Centeno family, who were the family that I stayed with during my first trip to Nicaragua in 2009. I stayed with them for two months, and since then, I have watched the kids turn into adults and have always stayed in touch with them. I love this family!	Walking through the market, Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017.
Just a couple months prior to my arrival in Nicaragua in January 2017, President Daniel Ortega had rewritten the constitution to allow for him to serve a third term, then he rigged elections. This graffiti was painted on the radio station in downtown Ocotal. You can guess what it all says due to similar cognates, except maybe moclín, which is like slang for pervert, someone who likes little kids.	I often conducted field notes by hand and by candlelight, as the power frequently shut off. Water, too, was a scarce resource, and the municipality shut off water every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so one had to fill buckets of water to use for the days when no water would come. Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017.	The fearlessness of youth. I used to do this when I was their age, having grown up on the south fork of the American River. Three boys get ready to jump into el Rio Coco, Somoto, Nicaragua, 2015
Through the Fabretto Foundation, a very reputable NGO in Nicaragua and one for which I have volunteered for years, you can sponsor a child to help him/her receive good education and health. The boy going through the circle hoop is the one whom I have sponsored for the last eight years! Esteli, Nicaragua, 2013.	Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017.	English activity with a wonderful teacher with whom I had the pleasure of working! Esteli, Nicaragua, 2009
A boy and a street puppy play in a piece of road undergoing repairs. Somoto, Nicaragua, 2013.	Foregoing the harmful practice of using pesticides, one of the families I stayed with during dissertation fieldwork in 2017 laid beans in the sun. Los gorgojos, the little bugs that eat the beans, hate the light and heat, and fly away. Easy peezy. Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017.	Kids play baseball in a field in the mountains way beyond Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017.
Playing tourist in and near Somoto Canyon, I enjoyed making tortillas at a friend of a friend's house in the remote mountains. 2015.	A boy plays during fiestas, Somoto, 2015	The universal youth activity of skateboarding, Granada, 2009
My dear friends Fabio and Marlon discuss their teaching on top of a lookout spot in Cusmapa, 2009.	Somewhere on the Pan American highway, thinking about how hard people work around the world.	Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017
The mountains outside of Somoto, Nicaragua, 2015, enjoying lunch at a friend's house.	This girl just kept beaming at me, and I just adored her. Somewhere between Somoto and Cusmapa, 2009	Somewhere in the mountainous regions between Somoto and Cusmapa, I toured a school being built. These boys were playing soccer, and would not let the smaller boys or the girls play, so the girls started their own game up the hill.
Children at play, Cusmapa, 2009	Street and mountain view, Ocotal, 2017	Ocotal, Nicaragua, 2017
Colonial architecture, Ocotal, 2017	A boy shows me how to pick tomatoes on his father's property, near Somoto, 2015	Learning from friends and colleagues how to upcycle. Ocotal, 2017.
In a very remote region near Cusmapa, a teacher does the best he can with his limited English, little teacher education, and the resources he has to create an activity for his students. 2015.	One of Nicaragua's 19 active volcanoes, seen from the airplane. 2015
Granada, 2009, age 26	The neighborhood in which I resided for my volunteer work in 2009	This man napped in this hammock almost every day that I taught at the school across from his home.
I adored watching these two girls play with the tissue paper that fell from a pinata that the children were lining up to hit. Finding little interest in the goodies that fell from it, the girls giggled in delight as they used the pinata's remnants as hats.	Somewhere in a remote region near Cusmapa, I snapped this photo of a little corner of the life of an English teacher and student. 2015.	This family with whom I stayed in 2009 was and is a special part of my life. I have visited them many times over the years, and seen these children pictured grow into successful, kind, compassionate adults.
Sibling teasing, Esteli, 2009	Schoolyard in Somoto, 2009	When I was working in Somoto in 2009, I was excited to hear that, for the first time, a girls' softball league had been formed. Girls miss out on the physical, emotional, intellectual, collaborative nature of sports too often around the world. This was a step in the right direction.
I was impressed by its balance and focus, and hoped it lived to see another motorcycle ride.	I lived in a small home of a wonderful family during my fieldwork in 2009. Here, one of the children I lived with watches little ones play across the street.	This is my one of my best friends, Wilmer, helping me with teacher workshops in Somoto, 2009.
I tried to give back to the school, families, and community as much as possible for their hospitality. One way I could do this was washing the dishes after school lunch was served to children.	I had the pleasure of working and traveling with these amazing Nicaraguan English teachers during my fieldwork in 2009. Here we are enjoying lunch at the annual NicaTESOL conference, held in Managua.	NicaTESOL Conference, Managua, 2009
Here I work with several local English teachers on a teaching activity.	A dear friend and local teacher talks to me about some of the hardships of a local school that we are about to visit. We have traveled first by auto and now on foot, across a river, to access this small primaria school in the mountains near Cusmapa, where a local teacher does his best to teach English, despite not knowing it or having a practical use for it.

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