About

I am Michelle Balmeo — a teacher and writer, wife and mom, crafter and food lover. I was raised on a humble block in the middle of a field near Sacramento, California, though I’ve made my home in Albany, Oregon. I think that people are incredibly interesting. I read a lot of magazines, shop at thrift stores, and binge watch Food Network reality shows.

After bouncing around from New York back to Sacramento, I eventually studied Literature at UC Santa Cruz, always with the intention of becoming an English teacher and Journalism adviser at the high school level. In 2005, I found my way to Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, Calif., which is where I taught for 11 years. There I taught an interdisciplinary, project-based, team-taught class called American Studies. I also developed the Journalism program to include an introductory Writing for Publication class and a print and digital Journalism class.

After having my second daughter in 2016, we decided to make a big life change and relocate to Albany, Oregon. After a year of returning back to my English teaching roots, I’m back to teaching Journalism and American Studies, thought in a completely new context. This year, my team of journalism students brought back a newspaper that went out of print 10 years ago, despite its over 100 year history. The Whirlwind is a 32-page newsmagazine that will be published 6-7 times annually. They’re also working to establish a web and social media presence.

Even though I spend most of my day using my brain, I love to do things with my hands. My hobby is exploring new hobbies, which is probably why I’ve never wanted to travel to the same place twice—there’s always something new to learn and discover. But even though I have a tendency to flit, I do have a few staples like sewing, building things, and playing around with photo and video.

On this site, you can find my mostly up-to-date resume, as well as links to some of my works online. You can also follow me on Twitter or contact me through email at balmeo at gmail dot com. If you want to see projects I’m currently working on, thinking about (or dreaming about), I’m also on Pinterest.