1. What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

“The French Médersa” by Samuel D. Anderson.

2. What’s your favorite place on the Poly campus?

My office with Dr. Melonas.

3. Do you have any siblings?

No.

4. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

My college advisor told me once that no education is wasted. Anything you learn is useful.

5. Coffee or tea?

Coffee.

6. What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve done?

I climbed the tallest mountain in Morocco, Mt. Jebel Toubkal.

7. Describe your high school self in three words or fewer.

Quiet, studious, and stressed.

8. What’s your favorite food?

Ethiopian food. I like getting the veggie mix.

9. What’s the coolest thing about being a teacher?

Watching students learn and grow.

10. What instantly makes you feel like a kid again?

Getting lost in a good book.

11. Who’s a music artist you enjoy?

Bombino. He’s from Niger.

12. What’s your favorite time of day?

Mid-morning. Not too early.

13. What did you do before you were a teacher here?

I taught at the college level at Pomona. 

14. New or vintage?

Vintage.

15. Who is your role model?

Dr. Melonas because he has the right attitude.

16. What’s his attitude?

He has a mean front but a heart of gold.

17. What’s your favorite thing from Haaga or your favorite snack?

I really like potato chips. I don’t know if they have those.

18. What’s the best homework excuse you’ve ever heard?

I don’t know if I’ve heard any good ones. Maybe just honesty. “I forgot.”

19. What’s the best country you’ve visited?

Morocco.

20. Were you rooting for them during the World Cup?

During the World Cup, I root for Africa.

21. Sweet or salty?

Salty.

22. What advice would you give Poly students today?

Do your history homework!

23. What are some secret talents of yours?

I’m a good cook.

24. Where would be the best place to take a road trip?

Along the North African coast.

25. What’s your biggest pet peeve?

I have a lot of pet peeves. Maybe when students start packing up their stuff before class is over.

26. What’s a mistake that taught you something valuable?

I once did a research project that was based on oral history, and I learned that it was really hard to interview people effectively. So it taught me to think carefully about the goals I set for myself and how I carry them out.

27. Dogs or cats, and why?

Birds. I love birds.

28. What did you eat for breakfast today?

Some oatmeal.

29. If you could time-travel into the past, where would you go?

The Médersa.

30. Do you prefer cooking or baking?

Both, everything.

31. Describe yourself in three words.

Aging, bitter, and mean.

32. What’s your favorite thing in the world?

Birds.

33. Why didn’t you research birds?

I applied to Cornell University for the ornithology program. But I’m colorblind, so it’s hard to see them as well as you’re supposed to. And I couldn’t understand science. Past a certain point in high school chemistry, I just couldn’t understand. 

34. What’s your favorite day of the week?

Thursday, because of the South Pasadena farmers market.

35. If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be, and why?

My grandfather, because he passed away before I was born. 

36. What’s your favorite piece of clothing that you own?

My cardigan that I wear in class when it’s cold.

37. How do you relax?

By cooking and baking.

38. What’s one place you’ve always wanted to travel to?

Brazil. The culture seems really interesting. But a friend of mine went there and got robbed.

39. What’s your least favorite food?

I don’t like blue cheese.

40. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

An introvert.

41. What’s your biggest achievement?

“The French Médersa.”

42. What always makes you laugh?

The jokes that Dr. Melonas makes.

43. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

  An ornithologist.

44. If you could time-travel into the future, where and when would you go?

To spring break.

45. What do you always carry with you?

I made a joke with The Paw Print last year about carrying a piece of fruit (an apple) back and forth to school each week while always planning to eat it. 

46. What’s something you want to learn to do?

How to draw better.

47. What’s something you can’t live without?

Coffee.

48. What trend would you like to see disappear forever?

AI slop.

49. What’s something your students would be surprised to learn about you?

That I have children(or don’t).

50. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Their smile.

51. If you were stranded on an island, what would you bring?

Some coffee.

52. What’s a hobby you’d like to try?

Taking a ceramics class.

53. What’s a hot take that you’ll always stand by?

That history is the best subject. 

54. Do you feel like most people don’t believe that?

I do. I think people don’t think history is interesting or important. But I think it’s the most interesting and important. 

55. If your students taught you a class, what should the subject be?

Youth Culture.

56. If you could keep only one app on your phone, which would you choose?

Merlin(a bird identification app).

57. What’s the most memorable thing a student has ever said to you?

That they like history because of my class.

58. Why did you decide to get a Ph. D. in African History?

In college I realized that I’d never studied Africa before. I wanted to learn more about it, and teach others about it as well.

59. What’s one question you wish I’d asked you?

Where can I buy a copy of your book? (On the Cornell University Press Website)