I came to philosophy through an interest in art. In particular, I was drawn to the relation between art, culture, philosophy, and politics that was the focus of much German philosophy in the post-Enlightenment era. Following a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Marburg, Germany, I did good deal of world traveling before beginning a PhD program in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. My dissertation topic, on the intersection of G.W.F. Hegel’s aesthetics and social/political philosophy, has since developed into a broad range of articles in aesthetics, political philosophy, and German philosophy, as well as a book manuscript currently underway that examines the often neglected aesthetic aspect of current cultural and political issues through a Hegelian lens.