About

Biography

My name is Jeremy Taylor, and I was born in Sioux City, IA. After graduating with a degree in English from Dowling College in Oakdale, New York, I taught for two years on the south shore of Long Island. I met my wife, Kim, while teaching British and American literature in Qui Nhon, Vietnam under the sponsorship of a Christian service organization.  Kim is a beautiful, talented woman who owns and manages a full-service salon.  We have two children, Isabella, 7,  Ishmael, 5, and Immanuel, 1!  They are all energetic, inspiring, and oddly amusing kids. God has blessed us with great joy in having them.

I have now taught English, Journalism, and Humanities for eight years at North High School in Sioux City, IA, and I am a member of the Army National Guard in the intelligence field. Most recently, I was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in House District 1.

Publications

I completed a thesis, Men Like Trees, Walking, a collection of short stories concerning postwar Vietnam and suburban America. The thesis was accepted as I received an M.A. in English with a creative writing emphasis at the University of South Dakota. South Dakota Review published one of the short stories, “Seaweed” in the Fall issue 2005 (Volume 43, Issue 3). Previous publications include the curriculum “Teaching British Literature” by the English Language Institute in 2002 and poetry in the 1999 issue of Riverrun Literary Art Review.

Miscellaneous

I paint houses with my dad in the summer. I once hoped that I would be able to make a “professional living” and that I would never again pick up the dull scraper and tattered Taylor Painting hat. After a stretch of time trying to teach freshmen subject-verb agreement during the school year, nothing beats getting dirty and painting with the old man.

My favorite films include Ngay Gio, a Vietnamese short that was nominated for an Oscar, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, To End All Wars, Cinderella Man, and The Passion of the Christ.

My favorite authors are Herman Melville, C.S. Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, and Shakespeare.

I’m a Reformed protestant evangelical who believes that we ought to be shining lights in the world and therefore be in it while not being of it. This requires much more grace and humility than most people realize–firm, hard principles with an outreaching, soft heart.

I speak broken Vietnamese and can write a little bit of it, too!

My favorite college football team is the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The most important three books that Americans should read (other than the Bible): Paul Johnson’s History of the American People, Martin Lloyd Jones’s Spiritual Depression, and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.