Recent Updates

17 June 2009 Writing on LJ: Does Penny Arcade Pass the Bechdel Test?
25 May 2009 Short story review on LJ: "The Catgirl Manifesto" by Richard Calder
23 May 2009 New book review on LJ: Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran by Fatemeh Keshavarz

Upcoming Events

02-05 July 2009 I'll be running a Race for the Galaxy tournament at Anthrocon in Pittsburgh, PA.
09-12 July 2009 I'll be giving a paper on apocalyptic literature at Readercon in Burlington, MA.

Contact Information

E-Mail This is my preferred contact method.
AIM My AIM screenname is RaxVulpine, if that link doesn't work for you.
LiveJournal My social networking software of choice.
Twitter It's actually sort of neat, I have to admit.
Facebook I finally gave in. No promises I'm actually going to use it.
Analog Analog contact information.

Hi! I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dillon, and this is my personal website. Here you can find my contact information, links to the various places I do things online, conferences I'll be attending and presenting at, and the like. Here's a micro-resume:


Experience

MetaCarta Inc. Technical Lead
Cambridge, MA. February 2005 - present

Migrated all product documentation from a combination of MS Word, LyX, and FrameMaker to a custom-designed LaTeX template. Wrote documentation for both end-users and integrators of geographic text search product. Gained familiarity with SOAP, JSON, and MetaCarta's custom APIs. Streamlined electronic documentaton production process. Designed and presented training to field personnel. Brought on and trained a new hire in the Documentation department. Took over Customer Support department after personnel reduction and improved case triage and request handling procedures. Provided support to both customers and field personnel via phone and email.

MIT Instructor
Cambridge, MA. February 2009 - May 2009

Taught a literature seminar called "Passing: Flexibility in Race and Gender," using American literature as a lens through which to examine different passing tropes. Provided an introduction to queer, gender, and critical race theories to engineering students.

More resume available, or check it out in PDF format.


Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
Bachelor of Science in Writing and Humanistic Studies, June 2004

University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA.
Candidate for Master of Arts in English, June 2010


Alternately, here's a non-resume bio: I'm a forever-27 vegan biker dyke trying to thrive simultaneously in industry and academia while maintaining active creative and social lives. If that sounds busy, it's because it is. Here are the projects I'm working on at the moment: