Shameless self-promotion? Yes. But it IS about my kids so it counts.

I'm excited to share what I think is a really important new book about the problem of balancing work and family effectively and happily. And to be totally honest, I'm also excited to share it because I'm in it! Mama, PhD: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life is a really smart, provocative collection of essays written by women across academia. Many of the pieces deal with the difficulties, double-standards and the outdated (or sometimes simply absent) university policies on and attitudes toward pregnant women and mothers in the professoriat. Beware: much of it is infuriating and frustrating. Some of it is funny. (Mine is among the "lighter" of the pieces) All of it is thoughtful and careful and, to my mind, true.

I am pleased and honored to be a contributor for it, and to promote it a wee bit here. (No, the editors didn't ask me to!) So what's my essay about? Being pregnant with my small boy in front of a classroom full of almost-grown boys. It was a semester filled with unexpected kindnesses and constant surprise.

I think of those boys often and thank them still.