About Doida

Kidz in the Middle are my specialty. 

I grew up in a summer camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina (from age 4-23) where I lived, worked, and camped in the great outdoors with Middle Grades kids. There I learned the value of play and nurtured a deep connection to the natural world. I learned that children are already fully realized human beings. 

Later I went on to study Middle Grades Kids to become a teacher. I earned two degrees (B.Ed./ M.Ed.) from the UNC at Chapel Hill, plus National Board Certification in Middle Grades Education.

Over my three-decades career teaching in grades 4-7—including the gifted 6th graders who inspired these collections—I discovered that every Middle Kid's life is about three things: Self-Discovery, Changing, and Fitting In—so that's what my poetry is all about.

Now I live in Hillsborough NC where I write, paint, cook, hike, camp, sing, and walk our big family dog, Axil.