Jenny

Jenny Smith was born in Boston and lives in Seattle today. Before settling in the Pacific Northwest, she lived in San Francisco and in New York. She studied English Literature at the University of Washington, and teaching is the only job she has ever had. She is cheerful and resourceful, and she admits to being impatient, mostly with herself.

As a child, Jenny biked alone for hours, further than anyone knew, and she says that is still how she thinks. She bakes a blueberry cheesecake that she is known for, and she has never written the recipe down. She is slowly learning American Sign Language, collects coins, puts on Norah Jones to rest, and suspects anything added to a plain Margherita pizza.

Jenny once volunteered in South America. She went to be useful and came back having been the one who could not speak, and that is why she teaches the way she does. After twenty years of crowded classrooms, she finally has one student and one real conversation. She tells nervous learners that they already know more than they can use, and her job is to bring it out.