Crusty Old Broads Go to College

[From NewsitemStorymakers Post]
by Lael Littke

"Nancy, Carroll, and I are dazzled to learn that the first book of our Company of Good Women trilogy, Almost Sisters, is on the assigned reading list for a class titled The Literature of Mormon Women at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California. A note in the class syllabus adds, "You'll want to read Three Tickets to Peoria and Surprise Packages as well." The class is taught by Claudia Bushman, adjunct professor of history in the recently established Mormon Studies Program of the university. Prof. Bushman and her husband, Richard (author of the definitive biography of Joseph Smith, Rough Stone Rolling, published by Knopf in 2005) both recently retired from teaching at Columbia University in New York. Richard is the first holder of the Howard Hunter chair in the Mormon Studies Program, and Claudia is pioneering the LDS women's studies field. Our trilogy deals with the friendship of three women from different parts of the country over the course of 25 years. And by the way, Crusty Old Broads is a complimentary appellation, rising from an incident in the early part of Almost Sisters."

Lael sent each of us the announcement as well as the syllabus from the class. Questions students were asked to consider in the syllabus included: "Who is the audience for this book? What do the authors say of the LDS community? What do we learn of the author? How has she interpreted LDS life? If she writes of a past (or future) time, what does her interpretation say about the relationship between the period of writing and the period written of? What skills does the writer display? What are the tensions in the book and how do they reflect LDS life?" (The Literature of Mormon Women, Claudia Bushman, Syllabus, Spring 2010)

I would love to be a fly on the wall during those discussions. Our Lovely Miss Lael has been invited to join the class at the end of the semester. We'll look for a more detailed report then.

A few of the other books and authors included in the reading list were The Giant Joshua by Maureen Whipple, A Little Lower Than the Angels by Virginia Sorensen, Lighten Up by Chieko Okazaki, and Goodbye, I Love You by Carol Lynn Pearson. We feel honored to be in such company.