Thoughts on Academic Intimacy laura levitt On the one hand, my mother adhered to the norms of mothering that de­fined her early 1960s generation. Although she was educated and worked as a teacher before she had children, she left her job when my brother and I were very young, and did not go back to […]

sheila squillante They watch my belly every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:15 to 12:05. As I lecture about active voice, clarity, and persuasion in prose, I can feel their eyes squinting, searching my middle for signs. I am three, four, five, and, finally, six months pregnant at semester’s end, and I know that some […]

jessica smartt gullion My sense that my status had changed was confirmed midway through the fall semester. As I sat in my office preparing a lecture on data triangula­tion, the department chair poked her head around my door and tapped her fingernails for a moment on the doorframe. Without looking me in the eye, she […]

sonya huber It is the end of May, and the Goat-baby (the bubble, the little being—all these nicknames that help us both be fond and keep our distance) is eleven weeks old. Poppy dust rained in my veins this past month, and I fell asleep in lecture, blinked at my students as if I could […]

jamie warner Well, we finally had The Conversation. It was planned for August 15, but I, of course, forced it six weeks early at an unbelievably inopportune moment. Yes, I know, I know. It’s rather pathetic to have to plan a conver­sation. And, yes, we, or rather I, had planned this particular conversation over a […]

It all started with “nursies.” Elrena was sitting at her computer, nursing her baby girl and Googling the new vocabulary of her life. If you try this, Google will ask if you really mean “nurseries,” but if you’re sure of your spelling, you’ll still find a link to the essay Elrena found that day: Amy […]

We’d like to thank the widespread community of mothers who make up Literary Mama, especially Amy Hudock, for bringing us together and in­spiring us with their excellent writing. We’re grateful to our agent, Rachel Sussman, for her guidance, and our editor at Rutgers University Press, Adi Hovav, for her unflagging enthusiasm for this book. Our […]

I received my PhD in religious studies, with honors, from Duke University in May 1993. That August I joined the faculty of the University of Florida as an assistant professor. I was never more proud. Five years later I sub­mitted my tenure portfolio, filled with articles and teaching awards, a book and an anthology. I […]