Meet the Faculty
Keith Belson
B.A. Saint Joseph's University
Why I Teach
To engage students in critical thought, empower young voices, and find camaraderie in the process of learning.
In the Field
Poetry, cinema, music, American and world literature.
Favorite Creators
Haruki Murakami, Colin Meloy, ee cummings, and Jeanette Winterson.
Fun Fact
I like Twizzlers... too much.
Emily Harnett
B.A. University of Pennsylvania, M.A. Yale University
Why I Teach
Literature taught me how to think, and I love seeing kids get excited about their own ideas.
In the Field
Literary journalism, modern poetry, Russian literature, 20th and 21st century American fiction.
Favorite Authors
I've always had a complicated love for Vladimir Nabokov. More recently, the nonfiction writers John McPhee and Patricia Lockwood.
Fun Fact
I once served coffee to Lou Reed.
Luqman Kolade
B.A. University of Pennsylvania, M.A. St. Joseph’s University
Why I Teach
I love the academic calendar, and kids are funny.
In the Field
Contemporary American lit., African-American lit., comics, music, Culture Vulture.
Fun Fact
I secretly want to be a tattoo artist.
Favorite Creators
Junot Diaz, Toni Morrison, Quentin Tarantino, Kanye West
Taylor Smith-Kan
B.A. Bates College, M.A. Middlebury College
Why I Teach
I love the energy of students. They make me laugh harder than any adult. Getting to share the thing I love (literature) with people who are seeing it for the first time allows me to relive the excitement and learn alongside them.
In the Field
Poetry, post-colonial literature, Chinese literature, creative writing
Favorite Book
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Fun Fact
I speak Mandarin - my thesis in college was a series of 20 original poems written in English and translated into Mandarin.
Louis Brown '15
B.A. Vassar College
Why I Teach
I believe deeply in the interconnectedness of all things, even if the connection does not seem obvious at first. Through the study of literature, writing, and earnest, open discussion, I want to help our young students of character practice their observational eye and understand how to find the connections in life that will guide them to individuality and introspection in their personal pursuits and in their professional lives.
In the Field
Poetry, nature writing, Eastern philosophies, postmodernism, science-fiction.
Favorite Writers
Mary Oliver, Gertrude Stein, Frank Herbert, bell hooks, Rumi.
Fun Fact
I've previously worked as a farmhand at an organic vegetable farm and fruit orchard in New Zealand.
Micah Del Rosario
B.A. Cornell University, PhD University of Pennsylvania
Why I Teach
I love to be in the business of broadening horizons and expanding minds. The world is full of contradictions and gray areas, and I want to help kids grow into adults who can think critically and speak respectfully about that.
In the Field
20th and 21st-century American literature, modernism, contemporary literature.
Favorite Creators/Authors
James Baldwin, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Nina Simone, Florence Welch, and Prince.
Fun Fact
I like to kayak and paddleboard. (I'm from Hawaii.)
Dan Keefe
B.A. Wake Forest University, M.A. New York University
Why I Teach
I was going to be a ski bum, and Sister John Francis told me that the children of Baltimore needed me. I became an English teacher.
In the Field
The Jazz Age, film studies with a focus on Lee Marvinism, The Beats, Magic Realism
Favorite Author
J.R.R. Tolkien
Fun Fact
I taught English in Nagoya, Japan for a year.
Jesse Sataloff
B.A. Washington and Lee University
Why I Teach
Growing up in a similar school community, the faculty were my family (literally and figuratively). It's in my blood.
In the Field
I'm hooked on words. My sophomore year English teacher (a self-proclaimed wordsmith) helped me find my passion for our language.
Favorite Authors
John Keats, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Bill Watterson
Tom Stambaugh '90
B.A. Kenyon College, M.A. Middlebury College
Why I Teach
I believe that each of us needs a rich, lively intellectual life; I want to foster that life in our young men.
In the Field
Medieval and Renaissance literatures, classic and contemporary theater, journalism. Utility player.
Favorite Book
Recently, Marlon James’ Brief History of Seven Killings
Fun Fact
As a child, I wanted to be a stuntman.