If anyone asks me, “When did you feel like you had made it?” I know what I’ll say. March 4, 2010. A rainy, snowy, and otherwise dreary day in New York. But the day that I gave my first book reading.
For the past twenty years I’ve been a student of Women’s History, I’ve followed in the footsteps of the magnificent women who pioneered the field, women like Shirley Chisholm, Alice Walker, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Flo Kennedy, and Mary Frances Berry, just to name a few.
And on March 4, I found myself in the surreal position of being the distinguished speaker for The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship at Barnard College. I was presenting my book, my research, and for the first time I was the respected author standing at the podium to a rapt audience.
It’s a kick, let me tell you.
As I rode in the taxicab down Broadway, I was choked up. “I’ve been invited,” I thought, “they asked me.” When the cab pulled up to Barnard there were students waiting for me, everywhere I looked there were signs posted, I was escorted to a room where they were having what a “basic background” gal like me would call a “Brie/San Pelligrino” reception. No spam for Duch.
What a difference a few years makes. In July of 2006, I was home schooling Austin, 7 months pregnant with my third child, and a short month later my Dad would be in coma. A book was the last thing on my mind.
Fast forward to 2010, and suddenly I’m shaking hands with the Provost of Barnard and the Head of the Women’s Research Center. My talk was received extremely well—I had more questions than ever, and I was asked to write a piece for their publication.
And it didn’t end there. After the event they took me to dinner at Le Monde restaurant and presented me with a gift and an honorarium. When the dinner was over, a girlfriend that I hadn’t seen since graduating college in 1991 came by to congratulate me for becoming a “famous author.”
None of it really seemed to be happening. When the night was over and my cab took me to the Lucerne Hotel on the Upper West side, I thought of all the “Days Inns” that I stayed at when I conducted my dissertation interviews.
I returned to the Twin Cities on March 5, and we had a parent/teacher conference for Austin on March 8th. He is finally ready for a ProxTalker. In just a few days I felt like home schooling was worth it, twelve years of writing my book was worth it, and with only 17 credits left; law school will be worth it.
I think, as women, it’s important to take a break from our “every day” lives, to celebrate together the progress we’ve all made, and to acknowledge the challenges still ahead. Come join me on March 17th for my second reading, hosted by the The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota and William Mitchell College of Law, and if you RSVP to nicole@wfmn.org, they’ll even provide lunch. Just our way of saying thanks to the community for making all this happen.
See you Wednesday.
Details:
Noon - 1:00 p.m
YWCA Midtown
2121 E. Lake St., Minneapolis
