But don’t let that stop you from posting a review on Amazon — there’ll be more great prizes coming later this summer.

Did you hear about the Mama, PhD gear? We’ve got t-shirts, of course, and hats and bags, but did you also know we have the all-important license plate holders and beer steins at our Cafe Press shop? Sure, why not?

So as long as we’re making all this stuff, I’ll be giving some away to faithful readers every once in a while. Today, I’ve got one men’s large Mama, PhD t-shirt for the first person to post a brief review of the book on our Amazon page. And by brief, I do mean brief; if all you have in you is “Nice cover!” then I’ll be satisfied with that. I’m just looking for a little action over there. Post your blurb, send me the link, and you get a cozy t-shirt, good for a nightshirt, beach cover up, or a gift to the Mama, PhD-supporting man in your life.

And next month, maybe I’ll give away a stein!

Yes, it’s true, the book’s been out a couple weeks now (though we’re not yet at our official publication date), the blog’s been going for a couple of months, and even the store is doing some brisk business in Mama, PhD gear. Clearly it was time for the next step (clearly Elrena either had a pressing deadline, or had just a bit of time on her hands!):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvXfJqtROjo]

Mama, PhD is getting out into the world now, making its way to readers and reviewers. Today, we spotted this review on Activistas, by the wonderful Bob Drago (whom we considered wonderful, for the work he does on academics and family life, even before he wrote this review). Here’s an excerpt:

This is easily the most important piece of work to date on academics and family issues, full-stop, because the editors draw out from the authors all of the messiness, the highs and lows, the fears and hopes, the pride, guilt, anger, love and sense of failure and accomplishment and mainly great stories that comprise life for so many moms who try to make it as academics. The panopoly of supportive or unkind department chairs and colleagues, high and low status schools, childcare arrangements that work or don’t work, supportive or non-existent partners, and perfect and not-so-perfect children is all here.

You can click on over to Activistas to read the rest!

cross-posted from Mama, PhD

First, check out Mama, PhD contributor Rebecca Steinitz’s article titled “The Rest of Us:”

Summer vacation looms large among the specters that haunt the 2 a.m. anxiety fests of the working mother. While corporate titans turn to their nannies, and stay-at-home moms schedule swimming-lesson car pools, the rest of us lie awake, trying to figure it out.

Then, read Kristen Green’s terrific article, The write time, which focuses specifically on issues facing women working toward their doctorates who want to have children, too:

Terra Barnes is a 29-year-old neuroscientist working toward her doctorate at the Graybiel Laboratory at MIT, one of the most prestigious in the country. She’s also a smitten mother of 9-month-old Brayden.

Changing diapers and performing brain surgeries don’t exactly go together, but Barnes felt she didn’t have a choice. She wanted to have a baby, and she needed to finish her dissertation.

She’s still figuring out how to make it work. . . .

And of course, for more stories about how women in academia are figuring out how to make it all work, check out Mama, PhD.

I think the only thing better than having a copy of your new book arrive in the mail is discovering that it’s available for on-line searching! I clicked around happily (there’s Jennifer’s essay! oh, here’s a page of Alissa’s! and here’s Libby’s! and Elrena’s! and Lisa’s!), getting reacquainted with old friends, compiling random stats (3 pages–that seems low, actually– with references to breastfeeding, 9 pages with references to naps, 71 pages referencing tenure) until I realized it was time to pick up Ben from school.

So click around and let me know what you think!

Courtesy of Tony, without whom the book really wouldn’t exist anyway.

I am thrilled to announce that InsideHigherEd is launching a new Mama PhD blog, and seven of the book’s contributors — Libby Gruner, Megan Kajitani, Susan Bassow, Dana Campbell, Liz Stockwell, Anjalee Nadkarni and Della Fenster — will be blogging regularly there. This is a tremendous opportunity to bring the discussion of academic work/ family life balance issues out of the book, into the blogosphere and from there into classrooms and campus administrative offices.

Please check out the blog, leave your comments, and send questions to Megan (for now, via info@insidehighered.com; the blog will soon list a more direct address) who will be writing a weekly advice column. And then please spread the word! Tell your friends, add the link to your blogroll, and help us build an audience for these fabulous bloggers.

Check out the write-up of Mama, PhD in the latest issue of eGrad, a newsletter for Berkeley graduate students:

Up on the web — it’s a site, it’s a blog, it’s a book!

Mainly, at the moment, it’s (almost) a book. It just happens to have the regulation 21st–century promotional bells and whistles, so it’s an instant community, and not a tiny one at that.

Read the rest of the article here. We’re hoping to do some readings and campus talks at Berkeley next fall, so stayed tuned!

The fortune in my cookie tonight:

The world will soon be ready to receive your talents.

And they’re ready to be received.