Patriarchal Women I

For ridiculousness, one of my favorite academic experiences of all time was the telephone call I received from a senior person in Women’s Studies who announced that I was the least oppressed person on the faculty: no husband, no children, not a woman of color, not disabled, not gay. As the least oppressed person, it … More Patriarchal Women I

Graduation Story

Although I am not among those who say they “love” teaching, one thing I genuinely like about my particular academic job are the students. I have so many interesting and marvelous stories and vignettes about them that I have a near total ban on describing them here, on the theory that if I began to … More Graduation Story

Career Poets

More poetically than I, Anne Waldman asks whether it is illuminating to think of poetry as a career, or in relation to careers. The connection to institutions. To commerce. The origin of the word career in chariot races. I would rather think of trajectories than races. Freeing the work from both competition and from establishmentarian … More Career Poets

Rosario Ferré

Today in one class we discussed La autenticidad de la mujer en el arte, the essay by Rosario Ferré on writing as a woman. I used to find this piece flat, but today I found it illuminating. I learned from the discussion that none of the students had been raised to believe women must make … More Rosario Ferré