What is your job at Vanderbilt?

Well, my title is "senior coordinator," but it makes me sound so geriatric. Not that there's anything wrong with being geriatric; I'm rapidly approaching my golden years.

What job at Vanderbilt would you absolutely not want to have?

I still don't know what I want to do, so how would I know what I don't want to do?

Where is your favorite place on Vanderbilt's campus?

The eighth floor of the Vanderbilt Library, the art section.

Describe what you do in a typical day after leaving work.

I either work out or go to yoga. Often I'll attend an anti-death penalty meeting or activity. Ideally, I'd like to go home and create things. I'm currently cutting up maps to create "nowhere." The idea is that we use words as directions to our thoughts just as we use maps as directions to places. But neither the words nor the maps actually exist. Among other things, I've made map collages on which city names are replaced with poetry.

During the course of your career, you have edited a couple of books. Which one is your favorite?

It is a Wonderfully Lovely Place: Jekyll Island as Seen through Kate Brown's Fresh Eyes. The Letters of Kate Brown, February ­ March, 1917.

With which artists are you currently thrilled?

Giotto di Bondane, Fra Angelico, Wassily Kandinsky, Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.

With which authors are you currently thrilled?

Graham Greene and Somerset Maugham always thrill me. A friend recently introduced me to two South African authors, Andre Brink and J.M. Coetzee.

Who is your favorite poet?

Pablo Neruda.

Who is the person who makes you see in a way you have not been able to see before?

I don't have one, but I've always wanted one. That's one of the reasons I returned to school. I came [to Vanderbilt] to study in the Graduate Department of Religion. I love church history and thought I wanted to teach it, but obviously I was confused.

Which album or recording artist do you listen to create the following moods or to help you with the following things:

Cleaning house: Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run

Romantic dinner: Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run

Rainy weekend afternoon: Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run

When is the last time you ran a marathon?

When I turned 40.

What words do you try to live by?

Oh geez. Can I just say blah, blah, blah?

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