Sublime

While teaching at Brandeis University, working other jobs, and tending her kids, she managed to squeeze out the time to write an exhaustive paper that wove together evidence for her thesis from many different fields. That, in and of itself, was unusual. At Berkeley, she had been shocked by what she called “academic apartheid.” She rarely saw

This makes it more vulnerable to later shocks than it would normally be, and less able to re-assemble itself after such shocks.

the old woman’s injunction to “be proper” kills off any opportunity to expand.

He would know her handwriting anywhere.

And next to him, Sadie felt herself diminish.

bloviating

accretion