I'm a staff writer and critic at Vox.com, where I cover film and culture, and an associate professor of English and humanities at The King's College in New York City, where I teach courses on criticism and cultural theory. I often write at the intersection of popular culture, religion, and intellectual history, as well as nonfiction film.

Before I joined Vox in September 2016, I was the critic at large at Christianity Today. Since 2005, I've regularly contributed essays, features, and criticism on film, TV, books, art, theatre, and more to a number of publications, including Rolling Stone, Vulture, RogerEbert.com, Pacific Standard, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Books & Culture, and others.

I've been a guest commentator on many radio and TV programs and podcasts, including PBS Newshour; BBC America's Talking Movies; NPR's Morning Edition, On Point, and 1A; AMC's James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction; WNYC's The Takeaway; ABC's Religion & Ethics and The Drum; CBC Eyeopener, Vox’s Today, Explained; WOSU’s All Sides with Ann Fisher, Mars Hill Audio Journal, Reid This Reid That, and many more. 

I was inducted into the New York Film Critics Circle in 2017. I was one of three inaugural Art of Nonfiction Writing Fellows with the Sundance Institute in 2017, and I’ve been a documentary film juror at festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, DOC NYC, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and the Hamptons International Film Festival. I’ve also served twice on nominating committees for the Gotham Awards.

My book How to Survive the Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, and Politics at the End of the World, co-written with Robert Joustra, was published by Eerdmans in May 2016. In October 2017 I was the visiting fellow with Anglican Deaconess Ministries in Sydney, Australia. I regularly speak at conferences and events around the world about culture, criticism, religion, and film.

I earned an M.F.A in creative nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University, a M.A. in humanities and social thought from New York University, and a B.S. in information technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In past lives I was a Wall Street business analyst, a tech writer at NYU, founding editor of The Curator, a co-editor of Comment, and a programming manager at an arts nonprofit. My husband and I live in Brooklyn.