“GET REAL, MISS LUZZO.” When Mary Jane was in college in the 1960’s, she took a course in which the assigned reading included a book by Father Pierre Sertillanges, THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Here is a wikipedia entry on the author, who was a philosopher in the first half of the 20th century. Wikipedia says: “The Intellectual Life is a practical guide for how to structure one’s life so as to make progress as a scholar.”
This blog post by by Andrew Barrett describes some of the views in THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE: “He believes strongly that in order to do intellectual work to one’s capacity, one must order the whole of one’s life with this goal in mind….much of his advice involves cutting out and eliminating habits that waste time and disturb thought (e.g. pointless correspondence and interactions with people, reading of novels and newspapers).”
The professor teaching Mary Jane’s class developed the ideas in the book, and called attention to the proper role of the wife of an intellectual in enabling the intellectual to order his life for intellectual work. She should take on duties to enable him to have more time for thinking.
When she had a chance, Mary Jane raised her hand and asked: “What if the intellectual is a woman?”
The professor replied: “Get real, Miss Luzzo.”
This is one of my favorite stories that I don’t remember hearing until I became an adult. It’s breathtaking, what the professor says, and I’m also very proud of Mom for her question.