Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni is a professor, theatre director and single mom. She is also a 1st generation South Asian American, which her countrymen like to say makes her an “ABC": American Born Confused. After acting, directing and teaching in New York, Chicago and Atlanta, Anjalee is currently in the process of relocating to Lewisburg PA: Population 5,562. She is not quite sure what to expect. She lives with her 3 year old son who is busy learning all the ABC’s for himself.
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Drama Mama: One for the road
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
October 17, 2008 6:27 pm
Drama Mama is officially leaving the building. This is my last post for Mama PhD. Just so you know it’s not because I am getting “outed” at my university as someone concerned with issues of parenthood and academia (see last week’s post) or because I got my ego crushed a few months ago (see my post on sodium laurel sulfate) or because this doesn’t count as scholarship (although I ...
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Drama Mama: Nervous
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
October 10, 2008 3:54 am
This blog doesn’t count for scholarship. My published essay in Mama PhD doesn’t count for scholarship. My participation in a panel on motherhood and academia later this month? That might count as service, but not scholarship. Unless I take the essays and turn them into a musical (and subsequently get the musical published and produced- on Broadway preferably) there just isn’t any way ...
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Drama Mama: Two Nickels
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
October 3, 2008 5:00 am
So we were at the farmers market early in the morning before preschool and my son asked me if he could pay the man for our veggies. Sure, I said, and lifted him up to pay the farmer. He received two nickels change and I let him keep them. He was so excited he held them in his hands all the way to school. I told him to put them safely in his pocket until later. When I picked him up he ...
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Drama Mama: 3 Things for My Best Friend
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
September 26, 2008 12:20 am
I have a friend in my discipline whose mother recently became ill. It is a relapse of cancer that she and her family thought had been resolved. It goes without saying that her family is devastated. This friend is also a professor who is struggling to maintain her classes and research while attending to the needs of her family. Her relationship to her department is strained, to say the least. ...
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Drama Mama: One Rabbit
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
September 19, 2008 7:07 am
When I was a young actress in New York City my managers gave me an ultimatum. They said I had to “chase one rabbit.” I went to New York City straight out of a liberal arts undergrad which had allowed me to explore all of my interests in tandem. This kind of choice was new to me, and it felt like heartache to have to decide. I came to New York as both a freelance director as well as a ...
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Drama Mama: Inconsistent
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
September 12, 2008 4:13 pm
“Take a stand!” I urged a freshman in a conference during office hours just this morning. “Your paper is wishy-washy. You readers want you to have an opinion and support it with evidence from your research!” “But,” she pleaded, “What if I have mixed feelings?” I urged her to try to quantify her mixed feelings as a percentage and go with the side that’s higher. “But what if ...
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Drama Mama: Downpour, Doubt and Diego
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
September 5, 2008 5:06 am
My son’s daycare teacher confided in me that she is also a single mom. It gives me great hope. Not just because she seems like an altogether wonderful person, but also because I have met her grown children – and they are great. In a country that makes you second guess every choice you make as a parent, being a hardworking single parent can be like holding a little folding umbrella in a ...
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Drama Mama: Hurrah for the IT department!
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
August 29, 2008 5:00 am
Hurrah for the IT department! I never thought I would say that about any IT department anywhere. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy technology and try to learn as much as I can about it. Mostly I try to learn new innovative ways technology can be used in my classroom. I am currently exploring using Facebook and Skype to have virtual meetings with students, video conferencing for team taught classes ...
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Drama Mama: Everything’s Under Control
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
August 22, 2008 5:03 am
I’ve just had two weeks of faculty orientation activities and I am so tired I can’t see straight. Between the introductions and receptions and workshops on balancing scholarship and pedagogy, I have had little time to chip away at these little things known as syllabi. Classes start next week. I had a plan to get everything done. It has not been altogether successful. Don’t get me wrong, ...
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Drama Mama. Don’t be nine
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By Anjalee Deshpande Nadkarni
August 15, 2008 5:00 am
I was out to breakfast with my good friend and his son the other day and his son ordered waffles. The waitress brought the waffles and syrup but didn’t bring butter. He stared at the plate. He stared at her. He didn’t say a word. When the waitress left he told his dad she forgot the butter. “Why didn’t you ask?” his father said. The boy just shrugged. He was shy. I know this feeling. ...
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