Courtney Rawlings is Tropics of Meta’s newest contributing editor. Courtney is a PhD Candidate in Emory University’s Art History Department, where she is writing a dissertation on midcentury modern architecture and the Left in Los Angeles. With a background in modern art and architectural history, Courtney hopes to develop and expand ToM’s work at the intersection of politics and urban history. Over the next few months she will be writing a series of posts on the unbuilt city plans of well-known architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra.

You can also find Courtney organizing her colleagues as the co-chair of Emory’s academic labor union EmoryUnite!, talking shop on this recent Champagne Sharks episode, or on Twitter @__acadame.