I was born already tired of hearing about Tillie Olsen because in graduate school, the older students would insist she be included on every woman related syllabus, and they evinced some sort of secret knowledge that she was the answer (she was always to be assigned as the final reading in the course, the period). … More Tillie Olsen
Marilyn Young has had a very interesting career. In her essay in Working It Out (213-227), you can see that she thought of herself as a professional historian far sooner in life than I or most people I knew in graduate school in the eighties did. I do not really know why this is or … More Working It Out: Marilyn Young
Pamela Daniels’ piece, like many others in the book of which it is a part focuses on the effects of internalized gender roles and broad societal pressures which, together, have particular, constraining, and often unseen (or difficult to discern) influence on the attitudes of women toward themselves as workers and thus, their work. Several pieces … More “Not Proprietors, but Guests (In My Inner World)” […A Psychoanalytic Love Song]
A nadie le importa Milton Wolff ni el Morganza Spillway, cosa que me extraña a mí — que si fuera esto un huracán me estarían mirando todos. But if you would like, you can watch the whole town of Butte LaRose go down right here. Meanwhile, in graduate school and beyond we were constantly having … More On Seriousness
I am not sure what else Anne Lasoff wrote. She felt guilty about writing and “beat down guilt as one would beat down an igniting spark.” (209) She felt (guiltily) “that writing and school were not an avocation but a private vice.” (210) As she began writing her life was no longer pinpointed on her … More “Writing in the Real World”
Naomi Weisstein was more egregiously mistreated than many of us, but also had a clearer sense of what was happening … perhaps because things were so much less veiled in those days … or perhaps because times were better. Weisstein: Wellesley faculty were brilliant and had to work at Wellesley because as women they were … More Weisstein, Valian
I have heard this many times, but in fact I do believe I am unlike the others. Neither the management of time, nor of money, nor of “impulses” is difficult for me. Most advice on life does not apply to me because it is about these three topics. I am unlike some others, too, in … More “Do Not Think You Are Not Like the Others”
I enjoyed Anne Lamott‘s Bird by Bird, wherein one is allowed to have an otherwise lackluster day if one is writing and still call it good. In this book writing can be messy and it has to do with life. In that way I find Lamott more interesting than Robert Boice who wants one to … More Working It Out
In class we saw Antonioni’s Blow-Up in connection with the Devil’s spit (ask if you must, and I’ll link when I can). It was quite exotic as all the students were born after this film was made. I was a child. The true class to give would be on sugar as a social actor. Sweetness … More Pouring Sugar
A pesky novella by Miguel de Unamuno seems to boil down to this: 1- a priest does not believe, but believes people need to; 2- people in fact do not think about this as much as he does, and just want good works; 3- even his main disciple is more interested in truth / authenticity … More San Manuel Bueno, Mártir
coldhearted scientist وداد 