In my second semester of my freshmen year, I signed up for Professor Johnson’s “American Fiction 1900-1950” course. It was the first class I really connected with in college, and it was what I always thought college should be. Reading classics like The Great Gatsby, The House of Mirth, and Their Eyes Were Watching God, I loved the genius of Professor Johnson’s lectures, as well as her humor, frankness, and excitement. In my sophomore year, after taking her class, “Writing in the Beat Generation“and then rounding out the year with “American Fiction 1950-present,” I found that my semesters have been marked by Professor Johnson’s wit and character, but also her caring nature and genuine interest in her students. Her “Freshman Seminar: On The Road in America” currently has spaces open, and I urge you freshmen to take advantage!
Department:English
Hometown:Watertown, MA
What do you teach?
This semester I teach, “Literature of the 60s,” “American Fiction from 1900-1950,” and a “Freshman Seminar: On the Road in America.” In other semesters, I’ve taught “American Fiction 1950-present” and “Introduction to Women’s Studies.”
How many years have you taught at Tufts?Since 1983
What’s your favorite aspect of Tufts?
I like that it’s a small school. There’s a lot of attention to the students with an organic hand held education. The professors can really educate the students and help them find a better way of analyzing the world.
Why are you passionate about what you teach?
When I was 10, I had been very bored in school and I got Jane Eyre in the library, and the librarian began pointing me towards more adult books. I read Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, and that really just changed my world. First of all, it was so interesting and it would take awhile to read them and I would really get into them. I had an odd family and I wasn’t sure I was happy, but it gave me the view that life is like this, there’s struggle and maybe you don’t have the best relationship with your parents and that’s okay. It was a window on the world outside the parochialism of my family and town. It was a big awakening and my interest’s remained consistent with books all the way through my life…It never occurred to me to teach, but it felt really right. I became a TA first and then I just kept teaching, I love to teach, it does feel really natural.
What’s your favorite aspect of teaching?
I like how I can connect with my students on a common subject, how I can talk to them about the things we share together, and sometimes get to know them more personally.
What were you like in college?
(Laughs) I was really outspoken, demanding; I thought I was the smartest person you’ve ever met. I was cocksure of my intellect. I actually don’t think I’ve ever had any students treat me the way I did my professors!
What was your favorite part of college?
Writing my senior thesis. When I got to college, I couldn’t decide whether to be a psych or English major. But, I wanted to write about books, not creatively, and I found out I could do a senior thesis and have two semesters just to sit and read! Meanwhile the war in Vietnam was raging, and a lot of shit was going on, but I still had a focus.
What advice would you give to college students?
Really try to discern what it is that you really excel at, and what makes you satisfied to do. Try not to be seduced by: the anxiety of money, to get ahead, the competitiveness of the current environment, the debt load…You’re young and you can really afford the next 10 years to follow yourself. Try to find out what that self is, and develop it instead of backing away in fear. To young women, be prepared to support yourself entirely and any children you may have. Don’t rely on a partner to float you. I recognize my advice might be somewhat contradicting, but I really believe that you must find a balance between these two aspects.
Why do you like Boston as a city?
I love Boston. I refuse to leave. I like that its an old city, the sense of history, I like knowing that I can go to my grandparent’s houses, I can go to the graveyards where all my family members are buried…I love that whole feeling of Boston being a small parochial city. Part of it is my own memory, but I like the character of Boston itself.
Who inspires you?
My surrogate mother, a Holocaust survivor. She is 100 years old. She’s been an inspiration to me, her generosity and persistence, her compassion for people. The older you get the less lucky you are to be inspired by somebody, but my students do inspire me too, their youth and energy, how they can have a clean take on something I thought I was done with. And, Hillary Clinton. Smart, tough, resourceful…did I say smart? Survivor.
If you have had any wonderful, awesome, inspirational professors, please feel free to e-mail me their names so I can interview them in “Campus Class-Acts!” (Alexandria.chu@tufts.edu)