Last week my daughter and I read the classic Bridge to Terabithia. I wouldn’t have re-read this on my own (too sad, for one thing!), but a little group of my fifth grade daughter’s friends organized the SS-MD-BC: Second-Sunday-of-the-month Mother-Daughter Book-Club, and we had our first meeting last weekend. I’m excited that in the upcoming months my reading habits will expand to include a ...

Last week, for Inside Higher Ed, Scott McLemee reviewed a three-day event held at the University of Iowa called “Platforms for Public Scholars." This symposium had as its goal the discussion of integrating humanities studies in academic institutions with civic work. It’s a difficult problem to connect the academy with the public. The tenure hierarchy was pointed out as a struggling point for ...

An article in the Washington Post last week stirred up the old “Opt-out” argument of Lisa Belkin by bringing in recent census statistics to investigate patterns of at-home parenting. The article, Census dispels “opting-out” notion for stay-at-home moms: Most stay-at-home moms start that way, reports that of the 5.6 million at-home moms in this country, the majority of them are young, ...

My mom grew up on a ranch, and she made sure when my brother and I were old enough, we learned how to ride horses. We both took lessons on a weekly basis for years, between the ages of about 8 and 14. English riding and jumping, trail riding with western saddles, even some bareback – we both loved it. Then I stopped as high school life got too busy and, until a week ago, hadn’t been on a ...

Last week my husband’s PhD advisor, Karel Liem, died after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. His death reminds me of what a central figure a graduate advisor can be. Starting as soon as he was diagnosed, emails, phone calls, blog entries and photos circulated as his academic family swirls in support, consolation and remembrance of him. A website has started to collect together all sorts of ...

Last week I went to a lecture by David Montgomery, author of “Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations”. I didn’t expect the lecture to effect me quite as much as it did (I mean, what do you expect from a talk about dirt?). But I have now added a new problem to my list of serious (and interrelated) environmental worries:-- Climate disruption--Fisheries collapse/ocean destruction--Habitat and ...

Weekend evenings in July a professional team of actors perform a Shakespeare play on a stage plunked in the middle of a beautiful field on San Juan Island. Sunday night my husband and I planned to go with a couple we know from graduate school, but our friends were a little wary – this was only the second night ever that they had left their two-year-old daughter with a sitter. The plan was for ...

My husband and I got a babysitter a couple nights ago and we went for a walk around a popular Washington stated vacation destination for wealthy boaters: Roche Harbor. This resort is on the other side of San Juan Island from the Friday Harbor Marine Biology Labs, where we’re spending our summer. Walking around, we appreciated a new addition this year to the resort grounds: a series of signs ...

With the end of the semester, we packed up our household and headed out to the other side of the country to visit my parents in southern California. We’re staying for two and a half weeks. My whole family always looks forward to these visits tremendously, since, being so far away we see each other rarely. But the first couple days I never enjoy.The kids miss their friends, the structure of ...

A lot of my memory of college is a blur now, but a few things I stand out in my mind with great clarity. One such clear memory is a moment in a first-year orientation meeting, probably held one of the first days I arrived at the school. From among the descriptions of programs, facilities, people, opportunities came one message loud and clear from a faculty member: “You are all meant to be ...