Our guest blogger this week is Dr. Matthew Apple, a second language educator and researcher in the Department of Communication, College of Letters at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. Matt’s research interests in “possible selves” in language learning stems from his personal upbringing, the eldest son of a family of eight children raised in rural Upstate New York, and his movements in multiple social circles. He has blogged quite a bit about his “linguistic upbringing” and family ancestral history. Matt’s academic career as a student and educator extends from one point of the globe to another. It has taken him through the halls of Bard College (BA), University of Notre Dame (MFA) and Temple University (MEd, EdD).