Friday, June 6, 2008

Responding to Email Feedback


An excerpt from the book was published recently in Tufts Magazine. The email feedback has been different from men and women.

A former classmate, who's become a federal judge in Wisconsin, said he thought it was valuable to recall how recent this history is. He remembered that in his law class at Columbia Law School in the late 60's, there were only 5 women.

Another classmate, a woman, told me she already bought the book, read half of it immediately in the bookstore over coffee, and found herself crying in the car on the drive home because she remembered all the same experiences: not being able to get a job, being humiliated because of the discrimination and sexism that resulted in such low expectations for women. And ultimately, she felt our generation was not able to reach our full potential.

Here's her email:

Judy,

I bought your book today.

Read the first chapter while drinking coffee in Borders, and started checking off the same things I experienced either in or after grad school, looking for a job in DC, and all the same humiliating
experiences you had, I had.

Then when I got in my car to drive home, I found myself crying!

I guess because of reading about someone who experienced the same things I did, but also because of the acute regret that we had to go through all that humiliation. Some of it still dogs me, and maybe I should say "us", because I feel many women, like me, really haven't reached their full potential or dreams .

So congratulations!

Sally Willson J'62





What do you think?

No comments: