Mindi Bailey

My life has been a maze of happy accidents and unintended consequences. At sixteen, I graduated a year early and made a beeline for college only to quit a year and become a hairstylist. A few years later, I married and had two children who taught me not only how to love but also how to reconsider what I thought I knew. When they headed off to school, I returned to college (primarily in self defense) to take night classes at CCCC. At last, I had found my groove.

I am proud to claim bragging rights as the first honors student to graduate from Quad C, which prepared me so well for my further studies that I then went on to graduate summa cum laude from UTD and earn my MA in Humanities. Ironically, the best grade I ever received was actually my lowest—a B! But alongside that B, I found these

words of wisdom that would guide all future endeavors: “You have the most solicitous of all academic afflictions: you have too many ideas. Focus.” I took that advice to heart and try to pay it forward by guiding my students in similar ways.

I approach the humanities from an interdisciplinary point of view, focusing on connections and distinctions among various cultures, between other cultures and our own, and among all of the various domains of creative expression from the dawn of human consciousness until now. I pride myself on appealing to every learning style by employing hands-on, multimedia, and interactive strategies to enliven the learning process. My approach in the classroom stems from my core belief that learning should be fun, and I consequently refuse to make any distinction between work and play.