[ employment β service β writing β talks β interviews ]
Education
Ph.D., Musicology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2007
M.A., Musicology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001
B.A., Music, magna cum laude, Bemidji State University, 1998
Employment
2022-present, Yoga Teacher, The Marsh (Minnetonka, Minnesota)
2021-present, Yoga Teacher, Minnesota Arboretum
2020-present, Yoga Teacher, Spirit of the Lake Yoga (Excelsior, Minnesota)
2014-present, Lead Engineer (2021-present), Senior Developer (2014-2021), Lullabot
2022, Yoga Teacher, Minnetonka Community Education (Minnesota)
2009, Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology, University of Iowa (Iowa City)
2006-2014, Web Developer, Wisconsin Public Radio (Madison and Minneapolis)
1999-2006, Sea Grant Project Assistant, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2003, Event Coordinator, AIDS Network (Madison)
1999, Office Manager, Madeline Island Music Camp (Minneapolis)
1998, Artistic Planning Intern, Minnesota Orchestra (Minneapolis)
1998, Substitute Music Instructor, Aspen Country Day School (Aspen, Colorado)
1997-1998, Teaching Associate, History and Literature of Music, Bemidji State University (Minnesota)
Service
2024-present, Social Justice Chair, Lake Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (Excelsior, Minnesota)
2024-present, Congregational Connector, Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance (MUUSJA)
2024-present, Starshot Track Chair, Drupal CMS
2023-present, Member, Community Health Team, Drupal Community Working Group
2022-present, Organizer, Mental Health Working Group, Lullabot
2020-present, Host, Pretty Good Meditation (podcast)
2011-present, Organizer, Twin Cities Drupal Camp (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
2010-present, Core Contributor, Drupal
2010-present, Web Developer, Lake Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (Excelsior, Minnesota)
2022-2024, Board Member, Board Chair (2023-2024), onelove.yoga
2013-2023, Maintainer, Drupal Configuration API
2019-2022, Drupal core initiative coordinator, Olivero
2017-2022, Facilitator, Prison Meditation Group, Minnesota Department of Corrections
2022, Co-organizer, Burnout and Mental Health in Open Source, GitHubβs Maintainer Month
2016-2022, Host, Hacking Culture (podcast)
2021, Yoga Teacher, DrupalCon North America
2020-2021, Organizer, Spirit of the Lake Community Discussions & Book Club
2020, Volunteer, 86th Annual Meeting, American Musicological Society (AMS)
2019, Program Committee Member, International Conference on Live Coding (Madrid, Spain)
2014-2016, Instructor, Minnewashta Elementary Coding Club (Shorewood, Minnesota)
2014, Mentor, Tonka Coder Dojo (Minnetonka, Minnesota)
2014, Member, Tonka <Codes>
Design Team (Minnetonka School District, Minnesota)
2013, Instructor, Drupal Developers Unite! Inaugural Pub Media Drupal Developerβs Clinic, Integrated Media Association Conference (Austin, Texas), March 6
2010-2012, Board Member, Lake Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
2004-2006, Member, State of Wisconsin HIV Prevention Community Planning Council
2004, Producer, Positive Music: an AIDS Benefit Concert (Madison)
2002, Founder & Coordinator, Wisconsin AIDS Ride (formerly AIDS Network Cycles Together)
1993, Eagle Scout
Writing
βDiscover the Best Types of Yoga for Stress Relief: 6 Science-Backed Options,β matthewtift.com, 18 January 2024.
βCan Yoga Reduce Stress?,β matthewtift.com, 11 January 2024.
βHow We Compare: Leaderboards and Related Comparison Metrics in the Drupal Community,β Lullabot.com, 21 September 2021.
βContribution Recognition and the Drupal Project,β Drupal.org, 12 July 2021.
βDrupal Accessibility: Why Itβs Worth It,β Lullabot.com, 24 July 2020.
βLoving-Kindness and Yoga,β Spiritofthelakeyoga.com, 28 May 2020.
βImpact and Generosity in the Drupal Community,β Lullabot.com, 13 May 2020.
βUsing Drupal in a Pandemic,β Lullabot.com, 18 March 2020.
βInterpreting the Drupal Core Commit History,β Lullabot.com, 5 June 2019.
βImagining Drupal,β Lullabot.com, 5 April 2019.
βMeditative Live Coding and Musicological Hindrances,β Proceedings of the International Conference on Live Coding (Madrid, Spain), 18 January 2019.
βSix Months of Tidal,β TidalCycles.org, 11 November 2018.
βDrupal as a Political Act,β Lullabot.com, 7 December 2016.
βWho Sponsors Drupal Development?β (with Dries Buytaert), Drupal.org, 6 September 2016.
βWhy Paid Drupal Modules Fail: Drupal as Art,β Lullabot.com, 7 April 2016.
βAccelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): Open or Closed?,β Opensource.com, 6 April 2016.
βAMPing up Drupal,β AMP, 2 March 2016.
βConfiguration Management in Drupal 8: The Key Concepts,β Lullabot.com, 4 November 2015.
βBetter, then Bigger: Cultivating the Drupal Community,β Lullabot.com, 16 September 2015.
βThe Cultural Construction of Drupal,β Lullabot.com, 7 May 2015.
βGrateful Dead Musickingβ in All Graceful Instruments: The Contexts of the Grateful Dead Phenomenon, edited by Nicholas Meriwether, 72-91. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007.
Musical AIDS: Music, Musicians, and the Cultural Construction of HIV/AIDS in the United States, PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2007. (PDF)
Talks
βFrom Community Initiative to a Drupal CMS Track: the Dashboard Moduleβ (with Christian LΓ³pez EspΓnola), DrupalCon Atlanta, 26 March 2025.
βDrupal Starshot Panel Discussion: Shaping the Future Together,β Twin Cities Drupal Camp, 13 September 2024.
βPrinciples of Configuration Management,β Twin Cities Drupal Camp, 12 September 2024.
βPrinciples of Configuration Management,β Drupal GovCon, 15 August 2024. [video, slides]
βCommunity Working Group Roundtableβ (with Mark Casias and April Sides), DrupalCon Portland, 7 May 2024.
βTeaching Yoga in Schools,β Minnesota Yoga Conference, 20 April 2024.
βHow Old Are Yoga Poses?,β Minnesota Yoga Conference, 21 April 2024.
βIntroduction to Yoga History & Philosophy,β Spirit of the Lake, 3 December 2023.
βHow Old Are Yoga Poses?,β The Marsh, 4 November 2023.
βAn Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Yoga,β Lake Fellowship, 8 October 2023.
βHabits of an Effective Drupal Contributor,β Twin Cities DrupalCamp, 15 September 2023. [video, slides]
βHabits of an Effective Drupal Contributorβ (with Owen Bush), DrupalCon Pittsburgh, 6 June 2023.
βReclaim Your Attention,β Minnesota Yoga Conference, 16 April 2023.
βBuilding Radical, Ethical Websites,β Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly, 22 June 2022.
βDrupalβs Credit System and Evidence-Based Open-Source Sustainabilityβ (with Tim Lehnen), All Things Open, 17-19 October 2021. [video]
βContributor Leaderboards to Incentivize Good Community Citizenshipβ (panelist), Open Source Summit, 29 September 2021.
βEvidence-Based Open-Source Sustainabilityβ (with Tim Lehnen), GitLab Commit, 4 August 2021. [video]
βCultivating the Drupal Community Mindfully,β DrupalCon Global Community Summit, 15 July 2020. [slides]
βLayout Builder in the Real Worldβ (with Wes Ruvalcaba), Twin Cities Drupal Camp, 7 June 2019.
βThe Imaginary Band of Drupal Rock Stars,β DrupalCon Seattle, 11 April 2019.
βMeditative Live Coding and Musicological Hindrances,β International Conference on Live Coding (Madrid, Spain), 18 January 2019.
βDrupal and the Music Industry,β Twin Cities Drupal Camp, 8 June 2018.
βDrupal in the Public Sphere,β Twin Cities Drupal Camp, 23 June 2017.
βDrupal in the Public Sphere,β DrupalCon Baltimore, 27 April 2017.
βAMPing up Drupalβ (with Karen Stevenson and Marc Drummond), DrupalCon New Orleans, 11 May 2016.
βConfiguration Management for Developers in Drupal 8β (the most attended session at DrupalCon), DrupalCon New Orleans, 10 May 2016.
βConfiguration Management for Developers in Drupal 8β (with Alex Pott), BADCamp Configuration Management and DevOps Summit, 23 October 2015.
βIntroducing Drupal 8,β Open Source North, 3 October 2015.
βTeaching Kids to Code,β NYC Camp, 18 July 2015.
βThe Cultural Construction of Drupal,β NYC Camp, 18 July 2015.
βTeaching Kids to Code,β Twin Cities Drupal Camp, 27 June 2015.
Keynote, βTeaching Kids to Code,β DrupalCamp Colorado, 21 June 2015.
βOpen Source Unitarian,β First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, 4 January 4 2015.
βOpen Source Culture and Unitarian Universalism,β Lake Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 21 September 2014.
βIntroducing the Drupal 8 Configuration System,β Twin Cities Drupal Camp, 8 August 2014
βIntroducing the Drupal 8 Configuration System,β DrupalCon Austin, 3 June 2014.
βIntroducing the Drupal 8 Configuration System,β Twin Cities Drupal User Group, 23 April 2014.
βIntroducing the Drupal 8 Configuration System,β BADCamp, October 26, 2013
Keynote, βDrupal 8: What You Need To Know,β DrupalCamp Wisconsin, 23 July 2013.
βDrupal 8: What You Need To Know,β Twin Cities Drupal Camp, 19 June 2013.
βWordPress, Drupal, and APIs, Oh My!β Integrated Media Association, 7 March 2013.
βHow ttbook.org Uses Drupal,β Invited Speaker, PRI: Public Radio International, 27 February 2013.
βDrupal in Public Media,β Twin Cities Drupal User Group, 22 February 2012.
βMusic, Musicians, and AIDS,β Invited Speaker, State of Wisconsin AIDS/HIV Program staff meeting (Madison), 2 June 2005.
βPositive Music: Women, Music, and AIDS,β Womenβs and Gender Studies Conference β InterACTIONS: Activism, Research, Scholarship, Teaching (Madison, Wisconsin), April 16, 2005
ββDonβt Go Chasing Waterfallsβ: Music, Black Women, and HIV/AIDS,β Society for American Music (Eugene, Oregon), 10 February 2005
βMusical AIDS: On the Popularity of American Musical Responses to HIV/AIDS in the 1990s,β Midwest Graduate Music Consortium (Chicago, Illinois), 28 February 2004.
βExcuse Me, Where Can I Find Mozartβs Clarinet Concerto?β Midwest Graduate Music Consortium (Madison, Wisconsin), 23 February 2002.
βHow Do the Grateful Dead and Deadheads βMeanβ?β Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association (Albuquerque, New Mexico), 9 March 2001.
βGrateful Dead Musicking,β Society for American Music, βToronto 2000: Musical Intersections,β 6 November 2000.
βPlaying in the Band: The Grateful Dead and Musicking,β Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association (Albuquerque, New Mexico), 11 February 2000.
Interviews
βHealthy Minds @Lullabot,β Lullabot Podcast, 30 April 2022.
βDrupal Credit System,β Talking Drupal, 16 August 2022.
Leaderboards and Metrics at Drupal.org," CHAOSScast, 16 July 2021.
βEpisode 36,β TEN7 podcast, 8 August 2018.
βDrupalcon Baltimore Edition,β Lullabot Podcast, 20 April 2017.
βPast, Present, and Future of Drupal with Dries Buytaert and Matthew Tift,β Lullabot Podcast, 24 November 2016.
βSelling Drupal Modules and Distributions,β Lullabot Podcast, 7 April 2016.
βDrupal AMP,β Talking Drupal Podcast, 9 March 2016.
βCoding in Schools,β interviewed along with Eric Schneider (Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Minnetonka Public Schools), Drupalize.Me Podcast, 12 December 2014.
βMinnetonka Molds 21st-century Thinkersβ by Stephanie Helseth, Sun Sailor, 7 April 2014.
βWhat <audio
> Means for Public Radio,β Public Media Innovators Webinar, 30 May 2012.
KBOO (Portland, Oregon), interviewed by Andrew Geller about βGrateful Dead Musickingβ chapter in All Graceful Instruments, 8 November 2008.
Interviewed on the βMorning Showβ on WKOW (Madison) about Positive Music: Musical Responses to HIV/AIDS benefit concert, 3 December 2004.
βConcert to Benefit AIDS Network of Madisonβ by Jacob Stockinger. Wisconsin State Journal, 2 December 2004.