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Column
Me and My House: a monthly column appearing in Literary Mama
March 2008: The Last Day
“With lips pressed against my daughter's hair, I try to sing: I am the bread of life, they who come to me shall not hunger, they who believe in me shall not thirst. My voice is wobbly. The song talks about how Christ will raise us up again after we die, and I'm not a big fan of thinking about death. I don't know many people who are. And although I feel like I should be crying for joy at the thought of someday being raised to eternal life, I'm not. I'm crying for the fact that we have to die, all of us, before we get there.”
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Books
Mama, PhD: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life
“This is the book we needed when we entered graduate school and the academic job market. We wanted to know that blending family life with life in the ivory tower might be possible; we needed to know that others were attempting this tricky balancing act.”
Catalog Copy
Endorsements
“All those sleepless nights and dirty diapers and baby food in your hair—where's the discursive construction of motherhood when you need it? It's here, in these smart, funny, poignant essays that struggle to balance mind and body, to balance body and soul.”
~Catherine Newman, author of Waiting for Birdy: A Year of Frantic Tedium, Neurotic Angst, and the Wild Magic of Growing a Family
“This is a charming, heartfelt book that expresses the difficulties and the joys of combining a life in academia with motherhood. Each story is different, but the experiences and challenges are widely shared.”
~Mary Ann Mason, author of Mothers on the Fast Track: How a New Generation Can Balance Families and Careers
“Through the voices of those who have weathered the storm, Mama, PhD fills a crucial gap in our understanding of why gender equity has been so difficult to achieve in academe. More importantly, it provides invaluable lessons for young scholars—both men and women—striving to navigate family and academic careers.”
~Robert Drago, author of Striking a Balance: Work, Family, Life
Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life
Co-edited with Caroline Grant
Forthcoming from Rutgers (2008)
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How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel: And Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids
“Over the span of a four-hour car trip, my husband can sing the so-called "ABCB Spider" song exactly four hundred and eighty eight times. Figuring it takes twenty three seconds to sing one round of the Spider, approximately one and a half seconds for a two-year-old to say "ABCB Spider again?" and four seconds for my husband to sigh, roll his eyes, and resume singing, that works out to four hundred and eighty eight times over the span of two hundred and forty minutes. I should know. I did the math. I also took the trip.”
Traveling Songs, anthologized in
How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel: And Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids
Seal Press, 2008
Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers
“My life has become a series of moments, an odd amalgamation of dirty dishes and thesis research, dirty laundry and comprehensive bibliographies. Added in to this already complicated mix, my daughter now serves as the connective tissue linking fragments together as my time is separated and divided, measured and spaced, by her constant needs.”
My Little Comma, anthologized in
Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers
Random House, 2006
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Writing
“When the daughter of a vineyard owner is betrothed to a man she cannot love, she pleads with her father to reconsider. But in ancient Israel, age-old traditions are not dismissed lightly. Can she escape the forced marriage? Will she be allowed to marry her true love? And what will her betrothed do when he finds out she is trying to get out of the arrangement? When you’re a young woman living in a world of men’s traditions, sometimes all you can do is pray for a miracle.”
When the Light was Still New, available for download from The Wild Rose Press, February 2008.
“She is overwhelmed by the party, confused by the noise, and frustrated by her dress, but if she can have her nursies, she knows, as do I, that everything is going to be all right.”
The Gift, appearing in New Beginnings, the journal of La Leche League International, January-February 2008.
“I wish the faith I am passing down to her wasn’t so fraught; I wish the tears she sheds at her baptism could be her last. As she sobs, the priest makes the sign of the cross on her forehead: You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.”
Me and My House, appearing in DreamSeeker Magazine, January 2008.
