Synopses & Reviews
Increasingly, college is portrayed as posing as many perils for young women as it does opportunities and challenges. The cover of
The New York Times Magazine tells us that "Crime Turns The Campus into an Armed Campr" at the same time that dozens of schools experience painful racial upheavals. Date rape, eating disorders, drugs and alcohol, hate crimes, the recent firestorm over political correctnessall have combined recently to make college seem a daunting, even threatening experience.
This need not be so, says Carol Weinberg, and in The Complete Handbook for College Women she provides concrete, incisive advice to help young women make the most of their college experience.
Away from home for the first time, in an unfamiliar environment, paired with a stranger as a roommate, the college student faces a number of imposing academic and social challenges. As an experienced college administrator who has spent over twenty years working with students at a range of colleges, Weinberg is an ideally suited guide to help young women navigate their way through what may well be the most formative experience of their lives. Written in a straight-forward, personable manner, The Complete Handbook for College Women is must reading for both college- bound women and students already at school, as well as a valuable guide for administrators, parents, and anyone involved with higher education.
Issues discussed include: first arrival and issues of independence and responsibility; family ties and loneliness; assertiveness and conflict resolution; physical and emotional health; eating disorders; alcohol and drugs; codependency; sexuality; sexual harassment; sexual abuse, rape, and personal safety; and the many components of living in a diverse environment, such as ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, class, disability, age, and appearance.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Arrival: Independence, Freedom, and Responsibility
2. Family Ties
3. Assertiveness and Conflict Resolution
4. Taking Care of Yourself
5. Eating Disorders
6. Alcohol and Drugs
7. Codependency
8. Sexuality
9. Sexual Harassment
10. Sexual Abuse, Rape, and Personal Safety
11. Living in a Diverse Environment
12. Ethnicity and Culture
13. Religion
14. Sexual Orientation
15. Socioeconomic Class
16. Disabilities
17. Size and Appearance
18. Age
Notes
Index
Review
"A story collection showing immense mastery of character, dialect, and narrative...Distinguished indeed. May Marsella take on the novel." -Kirkus Reviews,
Review
"Earthy and spiritual, particular and universal, and often very sly and funny. The range and diversity Anne Marsella displays, stunning for a first collection, give convincing proof of a fresh talent emerging with full, and impressive, power."-The New York Times Book Review,
Review
"Belongs on every woman's bookshelf in between Our Bodies, Ourselves and What Color is Your Parachute? Essential!"-Allison Wildridge,Associate Director of Residence Life for Student Development, The College of William and Mary
Review
"Refreshingly free of jargon and platitudes, it goes right to the heart of the key issues facing women college students today. Whether her subject is family ties, sexual harassment or socioeconomic class, the treatment is inclusive and honest, and her tone is respectful. Reading this book is like having the perfect conversation with an older sister. I recommend it highly for women college students and for those who work with them."-Gladys Rodriguez,Associate Dean of Students University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Review
"Weinberg's 20-plus years of experience on college campuses are evident throughout this guide, which will benefit all women about to enter college." -Library Journal,
Review
"Carol Weinberg provides a mentoring voice that anticipates the emotional growth and survival needs of contemporary college women. I'll definitely recommend this book to students." -Kathy Hotelling, Ph.D.,Psychologist and Director of Counseling and Student Development Center, Northern Illinois University
Review
"Weinberg's advice is sound and based on not only practical experience, but on her own good judgement. The Suggested Readings and Resources section will provide a tremendous boost to women hoping to get the most out of their college experience."-Sidonia M. Dalby,Associate Director of Admission, Smith College, co-author of The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges
Synopsis
As its title suggests, this collection is a sort of human list and found department. It is peopled with odd, vivid characters, often alone and displaced, immigrants from Turkey, Algeria, Egypt, Chile or lost souls in their own homeland, wanderers in whose world the miraculous is ever lurking, always possible. Many live in Paris a dilapidated, largely unseen Paris of sweatshops and dingy hotels. Some have left their countries, like the wily Miss Carmen, to see what could be had; others, like the clubfooted Sliman, are driven by spiritual desire. For all of them, the experience of exile, real or imagined, is a catalyst to liberationa liberation described by Marsella with compassion and a touch of the mystical.
About the Author
Anne Marsella was born in Fresno, California. She earned a degree in French Literature at Mills College and spent two year on the south of France as a student and teacher. She later received a Maitrise de Lettres Modernes from the Universite of Paris VIII, Saint Denis. For the past five years she has been living in Paris where she writes and teaches English at the CETEC, Universite de Paris-Dauphine. Winner of the 1993 WISE Short Story Contest, Marsella has published several of her stories in the Paris transcontinental.