“The first class I taught on my own was Renaissance poetry. I had been a TA up until that point, dealing only with one small section of the Introduction to English class. But by the time I was in my third year, I already had a publication in my specialized area, so they figured I could handle my own class. I had to make the syllabus, do the marking, and interact with all the students. It was so much work, but it felt like freedom. Pure academic freedom, and I utterly loved it.”
After a few false starts, Mona was in the middle of the story—which was the beginning of meeting Gabriel, a nineteen-year-old student who was five-foot-seven. Kerri placed a hand on her knee whenever the details became too difficult or squeezed when Mona needed assurance that she was here and not there.
An hour ha
