This Just In – Great women are all around us.
It’s Women’s History Month and I’m very fortunate to have known (and continue to know) a bunch of really excellent women. I cannot namecheck them all, as this would surely lead to an unintended omission, so I’m going to focus on just one. Her name is Janet Glitzenstein.
I came to know “The Glitz” (a term of affection) when I was in high school. She was among my many English teachers. I was hardcore into taking English classes in high school. I felt that it was where I belonged.
During those years, my grandmother (who lived with us) passed away. My parents were thrashing around at the end of their marriage. That’s hard for all the kids in a family, but for me as a mid-late teenager, there was an earthquake almost every day. Honestly, I think I’ve only come to realize recently how deeply that affected me. Feeling a connection with a particular area of study was a blessing to me (if not to the English department faculty).
With all humility, I can say that I had a real gift in the area of reading and interpreting literature and poetry. My capacity to squander that gift in high school readily comes to mind. I’d like to have a nickel for every teacher who wrote about my not fulfilling my potential.
I was the 1976 class clown, duly elected, and while I was in my poetry class with The Glitz I earned my title with distinction. When we had a visitor in class (Glitz’s annual evaluation), my classmates and I intuitively knew that the poem we were going to discuss was a difficult one, so we put on a show of “not getting it” to make her look bad. Hilarious (to us).
High school – fun and games, but the real story of the Glitz came much later. After 25 years of living my life, I got reconnected (and have remained so) with my former teacher thanks to a class reunion and the Internet. After reuniting, I wrote a paper analyzing John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” because I felt I owed it to her.
I’m more of a Robert Frost fan than one for Donne. Thanks to the Glitz, I know the difference. At my grandfather’s graveside service, I read Frost’s “The Pasture” and the lyrics from Dylan’s “Forever Young.” They cut through me like a hot knife through butter. That’s why we have poetry.
Like my grandparents and so many teachers, Glitz has an exceptional memory. Every kid. Every incident. If she brings it up, I just plead guilty because I’m sure she’s right. Resistance is futile.
In recent times (especially during the height of COVID lockdown) we write frequently. I’m in touch with my former teacher every week (because I send a link to this column to her) and her insights about writing and politics and grandchildren are a voice that has grown stronger in my heart and mind since the loss of each of my parents.
Donne might describe this as my circle, complete, but I consider this part of my friendship with a fellow writer (Glitz has written some amazing essays) to have barely begun.
Janet Glitzenstein is just one sterling example of what women have brought to teaching. Three of my four grandparents were teachers. My paternal grandfather was both a gifted teacher and the platinum standard as a grandparent, so I know that there are many men out there who bring great credit to the profession.
The fact is … teaching has been a female-dominated profession. The Glitz’s connection with her students (not limited to me) continues without interruption. That human connection improves lives on a scale that is difficult to define but try, we must.
Supporting children and families is what teachers do every single day. It is often the mortar in our foundations.
Janet Glitzenstein may not have been aware in real time what a lifeline she was providing to a teenager who was experiencing a family breaking apart at the seams. She didn’t need to know. She provided me with what we all need at that age – help in realizing that others who came before us experienced heartbreak and grief and (thankfully) wrote down what they thought about it.
Thanks again, Glitz. See you next week!
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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