Monica J. Casper (she/her/hers), Director of Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona, wears many hats, even when she’s not wearing a hat. Some days, she is a scholar and an editor and a teacher, while other days she is the alpha female who slays scorpions and wipes up puppy mess and bakes muffins. She loves to write and float in the pool, hates to fly but likes to go places, and could, if she really had to, subsist on dark chocolate, cheddar cheese, and wine. Monica has always appreciated the idea of desert landscapes (Georgia O’Keeffe is a passion), but never imagined she would inhabit one. Now a resident of Tucson living in the shadow of the Catalinas, Monica daily appreciates the Sonoran Desert’s unforgiving beauty and spectacular, subversive glory.