Her research explores ambivalent LGBTQ community and queer friendships in small cities in New England and the rural Midwest. In addition to gender, sexuality, and community, her research interests include emotions and affect, rural sociology, and technology, as well as queer and feminist theories, methodologies, and pedagogies. Her previous, published work has included narratives of community and loss in a New England lesbian bar, sexual reputations in 1950s American politics, death rituals and eulogy work in reality TV, and the cultural construction of Jell-O salads.