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Domesticity Afoot in the Barnard Philosophy Department
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When we posted an update about all the new professorial friends you'll be making (and losing) next year, we weren't aware that we had made a grave and conspicuous omission. One recent grad informed us that Cheryl Mendelson, wife of Edward Mendelson, is filling in as "Term Associate Professor" in the Barnard Philosophy Department next semester. Cheryl Mendelson is also the author of such fine books as Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House and Laundry: The Home Comforts Book of Caring for Clothes and Linens, which are 884 and 400 pages, respectively.

Oh, dear.

According to scholarly database Amazon.com, Mendelson has also dabbled in fiction, namely a book called Morningside Heights: A Novel, which Publisher's Weekly described as a "talky, occasionally stilted debut." Apparently, it's about an opera singer and his wife, who turns "domesticity into a deeply creative act" -- kind of like Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House and Laundry: The Home Comforts Book of Caring for Clothes and Linens. (From Home Comforts: "Until now, I have almost entirely concealed this passion for domesticity. No one meeting me for the first time would suspect that I squander my time knitting or my mental reserves remembering household facts such as the date when the carpets and mattresses were last rotated. Without thinking much about it, I knew I would not want this information about me to get around.")

Anyway, Mendelson will be teaching two classes in the fall: Mind and Morals and What is Philosophy?

Read more: Barnard, Cheryl Mendelson, Edward Mendelson, Laundry, Novels, Philosophy

June 19, 2008 @ 11:37 AM | Comments 22 comments | Add comment Post a comment | Link to this article | | Email this post | Share on Facebook

Posted by Batman: [#1] [reply] [track]
( posted June 19, 2008 at 12:24 PM )
Niceys!
Posted by This: [#2] [reply] [track]
( posted June 19, 2008 at 12:28 PM )
is too good to be true. HAHAHA.
Posted by This: [#3] [reply] [track]
( posted June 19, 2008 at 1:33 PM )
is a proud day for strong Barnard women.
Posted by cc2011: [#4] [reply] [track]
( posted June 19, 2008 at 2:12 PM ) (from campus)
i read her novel! when i was in the last year of HS and wanted to know what columbia would be like
Posted by Yeah,: [#5] [reply] [track]
( posted June 19, 2008 at 4:18 PM ) (from campus)
her novel was perfectly charming and a good roman a clef about morningside heights. jane austen on the uws
Posted by sgsdglkjkl: [#6] [reply] [track] (in reply to #5)
( posted June 19, 2008 at 4:37 PM )
get your story straight. first you say her book is good, but then you compare her to jane austen
Posted by hmmm: [#7] [reply] [track] (in reply to #6)
( posted June 19, 2008 at 6:10 PM )
haha, that's a win.
Posted by wifey: [#8] [reply] [track]
( posted June 19, 2008 at 7:42 PM )
good, now maybe some barnard girls will learn how to cook.
Posted by just checking in: [#9] [reply] [track]
( posted June 19, 2008 at 10:36 PM ) (from campus)
posting from butler for the first time in a month. it's much quieter now.
Posted by DHI: [#10] [reply] [track] (in reply to #7)
( posted June 19, 2008 at 10:38 PM )
From beyond the grave
Posted by barnard: [#11] [reply] [track]
( posted June 19, 2008 at 11:12 PM ) (from campus)
this is so barnard
Posted by Sprinkles: [#12] [reply] [track]
( posted June 20, 2008 at 6:27 AM )
...And Jill Muller didn't get her contract renewed?

This is crazy.
Posted by dddd: [#13] [reply] [track]
( posted June 20, 2008 at 6:55 AM )
Check here wikipedia. She has a philosophy PhD and a Harvard JD. She's published philosophy articles and written three published novel. So if we're judging on the lines of someone's CV (a crude way to judge) I think she sounds like a pretty good person to teach intro to philosophy at a liberal arts school.

(Imagine a male PhD with a Harvard JD and previous appointments at Purdue and Columbia in philosophy had written a couple of books about baseball. I doubt this would be worthy of a blog post like this one. See, e.g., SJ Gould or Gulati's obsession with soccer).

Posted by the above: [#14] [reply] [track]
( posted June 20, 2008 at 7:31 AM )
is definitely a barnard girl...relax, laugh a little. no need to get all defensive, i'm sure laundry can be just as fascinating as managing a first class soccer team.
Posted by EAL: [#15] [reply] [track] (in reply to #13)
( posted June 20, 2008 at 10:45 AM )
If you're talking about professors who love the beautiful game, you mustn't forget Barca's #1 fan at Columbia, the redoubtable Xavier Sala-i-Martin.

I also believe Mancunian history professor Emma Winter is a supporter of Manchester City.
Posted by yeah...: [#16] [reply] [track]
( posted June 20, 2008 at 11:10 AM )
but she still wrote books about laundry. Washing dirty clothing != sports. Writing 400 pages about washing dirty clothing != preparing to teach philosophy.

To be fair, this proves she's not myopic about her pursuit of her academic field, which is like a professor with a love of sports. Laundry is not exactly dynamic though.
Posted by Sprinkles: [#17] [reply] [track] (in reply to #15)
( posted June 20, 2008 at 11:19 AM )
COME ON YOU SPURS
Posted by DHI: [#18] [reply] [track]
( posted June 20, 2008 at 12:04 PM )
Sports are an observable and distilled form of competition between humans being performed at an elite level.

Laundry is the washing of clothes.
Posted by DHI: [#19] [reply] [track] (in reply to #13)
( posted June 20, 2008 at 12:10 PM )
What's funny about your implied charges of sexism is that you're also implying sports are in the male realm, and laundry is in the female realm.

But yes, nobody makes fun of George Will for writing excellent books about baseball, nor would people deny Shirley Povich was a great journalist. But that's because sports are inherently more interesting than laundry.
Posted by check that track: [#20] [reply] [track]
( posted June 20, 2008 at 12:16 PM )
monopoly on them favorites
Posted by Emma Winter: [#21] [reply] [track]
( posted June 24, 2008 at 7:05 PM ) (from campus)
Do not take her class. She is a City fan. City fans have no brains.
Posted by loop: [#22] [reply] [track]
( posted June 25, 2008 at 1:21 AM )
Come on, we all know that she's not simply talking about cleaning clothes. Finding comfort in the domestic sphere is plausible.

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