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I am a folklorist, known primarily for bringing academic attention to the personal experience story. I taught for more than thirty years in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. I served as Director of the Folklore Institute for a brief time and also as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of American Studies. I continues to serve on the Faculty Committee of IU’s Individualized Major Program. 

My publications include Literary Folkloristics and the Personal Narrative and Self-Help Books: Why Americans Keep Reading Them, and most recently, The Handel Letters: A Biographical Conversation. 

I have also recorded a number of CDs that include original songs, folk songs, and popular covers. Academic fellowships have taken me to Australia and to Norway. I live in Bloomington, Indiana.