Denise Du Vernay was born and raised in Minnesota. She earned her B.A. from the University of South Dakota and her master's in literature from Florida State University. At Florida State, Denise met her best friend Karma Waltonen and together they discovered their shared joy of teaching and Simpsonology, which they've put together in their book "The Simpsons in the Classroom: Embiggening the Learning Experience with the Wisdom of Springfield." See the book's companion website (www.simpsonology.com) for more information, to contact the authors, and to catch up on recent episodes of The Simpsons. Follow them on Twitter @Simpsonology.Denise currently lives near Chicago, where she teaches university courses in literature and writing. In her free time, she writes about film, television, social media, and linguistics. She recently contributed to three anthologies: "SpongeBob SquarePants and Philosophy" (2011), "Breaking Bad and Philosophy" (2012) and "Homer Simpson Ponders Politics: Popular Culture as Political Theory" (2013).In her free time, Denise likes to garden, cook, watch television, and make handmade greeting cards.