Welcome! I'm Ronnie. I've been teaching high school and college English for the past seven years, and I will be transitioning to English as a Second Language next school year. Teaching gives me life, despite that the fact that my greatest fear is public speaking and I suffer from social anxiety. Ironic, right?

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Though aware of my mental health issues from an early age, I wasn't officially diagnosed with bipolar disorder until I was 32 and filing for divorce. I've struggled with self-harm and suicide for much of my life, which has helped me connect with some of the most wonderful human beings, usually in the form of incredibly brave, compassionate high school students.

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My life changed when I had identical twin girls. Though I had resisted children, caring for my daughters has proven to be the greatest source of joy I've ever experienced. Recently, my forever date and I had a son who looks so much like me I sometimes wonder if I've somehow mastered cloning. She has two littles of her own, and the seven of us have great fun whenever we're ambitious enough to leave the house. I lied. It usually ends in disaster. But it's worth it.

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I began writing through poetry, and I've had decent success placing my poems. My first full-length poetry collection, Universe in the Key of Matryoshka, was published in 2014. My second collection, They Rewrote Themselves Legendary, is forthcoming later this year. Several essays have been featured at The Good Men Project and syndicated on Babble. Currently I'm pursuing an MFA in Fiction from Wilkes University.

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If you like what you read here, pop over to my author page on Facebook or check out my website.