"I was raised in Princeton, NJ, the son of two professors. Before I was sixteen I could quote you a sonnet, and by 19 I had written a book. I have studied Shakespeare in London and Chinese in Shanghai, and performed with theater companies all over the country.

I began essay tutoring a few years back, through a family friend. My students have attended Harvard, Princeton, NYU, Oberlin College and more. I also teach chess to a number of elementary school kids. In my experience, at pretty much any age, the best thing one can do is encourage failure. I try to get my students to fail big and fail early, in order to normalize making a committed effort, and then try to give them tools to self correct. This eliminates the shame of failure while simultaneously building up a sense of self reliance. In chess, that means allowing for blunders. In writing, it means encouraging big ideas and strongly constructed arguments. In poetry, it means being allowed to not make sense. In writing, most prefer to work one on one because it allows me to give specialized focus, and help develop personal style.

Working with younger minds is one of the most essential things a person can do. Human evolution is the passing down of knowledge. I treat my students with the same diligence and care that I expect from them in their work. I'm not here to help you pass just one test or class, but to help you shape your own challenges and goals, and achieve them." less...