I was raised in Lexington, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. My family summered on Birch Island in Casco Bay, Maine. In fact, my brothers and I still own a house there but I don't get up there (or down there) as much as I would like. I have been in New York City for many years now. I came here to go to graduate school at New York University. While working on my doctorate I met and married my husband. We had two children before I finished my dissertation (Humor in the Major Works of Thomas Carlyle).

My husband and I now own a house in Southampton, Long Island, New York. At first I couldn't understand the appeal of Long Island. It lacked the dramatic flavor of Maine – the tall pines and the rocks leading down to the ocean. I couldn't understand the attraction of hills, shrubby trees, and sand. Long Island was no more the country than Lexington. But since spending summers out there with my children, I have come to love lounging around my own backyard and being close to the ocean. I always enjoy the look of the light on the sea and the relaxed atmosphere of the days. Indeed, I miss those endless summers where I would move out there for three months at a time.

  

I teach courses at Hunter College [http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/english/faculty/Adjunct/Adjunct-BloomA.shtml] and at The New School [http://www.newschool.edu/].

I am also Managing Editor of the journal Victorian Literature in Culture [http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/english/journal/victorian/].