Janet Gray:  

Yes, I'm living in New Jersey! It's not soooo bad, really. Graduate school at Princeton brought me here in 1988--also my parents retired here (now THAT might be crazy). They're both still living at 90, and I'm their nearby kid...an experience that stretches & enriches me. Yeah...it took me 18 years after college to get to grad school. After completing a PhD in dead women poets, I was hired at The College of New Jersey to teach women's and gender studies, all of which I love. After decades of self-employment and insecurity, tenure inspires wonder and gratitude. Being a prof probably counts as my biggest surprise in life. It's a long way from my weirdest job--selling Avon door-to-door in west Altadena, a job I quit due to conscience. This was the summer of 1966. Being a teacher, of course I think often of teachers I had. At Muir, Mrs. Register, Mr. Hoyt, Mr. Eberhart, especially. And a history teacher whose name I forget. At the time he was deadly boring, but he was a real scholar, and somehow permitted me to do a term project on John Woolman's Journal, a book that remains extremely meaningful to me...true, I wasn't much of a partier--lol! I'm following the prompts to tell stories here, and I suppose I really have to tell you that my first real crush happened in kindergarten at Jackson Elementary. Rodney, I've surfed you o...Expand for more