About:
Brad Fraver teaches English at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, in New York City. He has a PhD in English education from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also taught a course in adolescent literature in the master’s program. Previously, he taught seventh grade for five years in a public school on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, after graduating cum laude with a BA in English from NYU. Brad’s academic interests center broadly around the teaching and learning of literature—and also include psychoanalysis, theories of listening, critical pedagogy, and place-based education. In addition to teaching middle school full-time for almost two decades, Brad enjoys long-distance running, listening to live jazz, singing tenor in a community choir, and leading historical walking tours.
Special Tours:
Brad is offering two special tours (described below).
Joan Didion's New York: A Guide to Her Life in Manhattan’s Upper East Side
Beloved American writer and journalist Joan Didion called Manhattan's Upper East Side home for most of her life. The city and her apartment itself feature strongly in her later works, including The Year of Magical Thinking. On this walking tour, we’ll scout out her former homes and haunts while exploring their connections to specific passages from her writing. You’ll get a sense of the neighborhood where Didion lived and worked—first, as a young writer in the 1950s and ’60s, and then again, from 1988 until her death in 2021. (This tour is audio/GPS-guided on the app VoiceMap, at this link: http://voicemap.me/joandidion — Please email Brad at bradfraver@gmail.com if you would like to schedule a date and time to take this tour in person.)
Peter Schjeldahl’s New York: A Guide to His Writings on Artists of the East Village
Renowned Village Voice and New Yorker writer Peter Scheldahl (pronounced shell-doll) lived and worked on St. Mark's Place for most of his life. This storied neighborhood was also home to many poets and visual artists whom Schjeldahl knew personally and/or featured as subjects in his incisive writing published over half a century. On this walking tour, we'll explore sites in the East Village that are significant in the life and works of art critic Peter Schjeldahl, as well as the homes and haunts of artists that lived and worked in this neighborhood throughout the second half of the 20th century. (This tour is audio/GPS-guided on the app VoiceMap, at this link: http://voicemap.me/eastvillage — Please email Brad at bradfraver@gmail.com if you would like to schedule a date and time to take this tour in person.)
Languages:
English
Services Offered:
Tour Guide
Tours Offered:
Virtual and Online Tours
Walking Tours