James Flanigan, English

Q: What made you come to Hackley?

A: A whole bunch of things… for one, I went to college in upstate New York, so a lot of my life was up here. When I started looking for jobs, Hackley was a natural place to look. It’s an incredible school with great culture, and was just a great fit.

Q: What’s been your favorite part about teaching Hackley students in particular?

A: I think the most noticeable difference is that there’s this hilarious fashion difference between Florida folk and Hackley/New York folk. There’s funny little vernacular differences; I don’t quite know many of them yet, but I bet there are vast and numerous differences.

Q: What made you want to become a teacher?

A: I like books. You know how when you find a new song and you’re very eager to share it with a bunch of people, but then you can’t just keep sharing the same song with them over and over again (but despite the fact you love it)? That’s sort of why I got into teaching. I read all of these books, and I love them and want to keep talking about them, but I’m running out of people to talk about them with. Part of it was just that I was very drawn to literature; getting that opportunity to share my passion with people when it’s their it’s their first time reading that text, means I can show them the thing I got so fired up about.