The Significance of the Dunnet Shepherdess to Jewett’s Matriarchal Christianity

Critical commentary on The Country of the Pointed Firs has emphasized the predominantly female world of Dunnet Landing. Male characters such as Captain Littlepage and Elijah Tilley are weak in comparison to the vigorous Almira Todd and cheerful Mrs. Blackett. Recently, Josephine Donovan has argued that the ultimate transcendence which Jewett presents seems to lie in a kind of women\u27s religion, in which womanly lore is handed down from mother to daughter in a continuing matrilineal tradition of healing and hospitality ( A Woman\u27s Vision 367, 377). Pursuing this concept of a women\u27s religion, what Donovan calls a sort of matriarchal Christianity ( A Woman\u27s Vision 367), I would like to demonstrate the function of Esther Hight, a patient and self-sacrificing daughter. In A Dunnet Shepherdess, a sketch published three years after Pointed Firs, Jewett depicts Esther as a type of female Good Shepherd. In the last Dunnet Landing sketch, William\u27s Wedding, posthumously published, Esther is portrayed as the second Christ-Mother of Green Island, able to succeed the aging Mrs. Blackett as the community\u27s spiritual mother. Esther\u27s role in this religion of matriarchal Christianity needs to be seen in relation to the distinction Jewett makes, throughout the 1896 text of Pointed Firs, between Mrs. Blackett and her daughter, Mrs. Todd. Although both women are respected by the community, Mrs. Blackett is held in higher regard. The narrator comments, I had often noticed how warmly Mrs. Todd was greeted by her friends, but it was hardly to be compared to the feeling now shown toward Mrs. Blackett (147). As Elijah Tilley pronounces, Almiry is one o\u27 the best of women because she has had and has the best o\u27 mothers [emphasis mine] (204). Mrs. Todd herself recognizes her mother\u27s worth and proudly states that at family reunions mother\u27s always the queen (161). Appropriately when people show pleasure at the mere sight of her mother, Almira Todd forgets self-concerns: Mrs. Todd turned to me with a lovely look of triumph and self-forgetfulness (160)

Christina Rossetti\u27s \u3cem\u3eMaude: \u3c/em\u3eA Reconsideration

Christina Rossetti\u27s Maude: Prose and Verse, a short work written early in the poet\u27s career but not published until three years after her death, is usually considered from an autobiographical perspective, generally an unflattering one. Such an approach was early encouraged by William Michael Rossetti\u27s Prefatory Note to the first edition

Where Are All the Black Teachers? Discrimination in the Teacher Labor Market

In this article, Diana D\u27Amico, Robert J. Pawlewicz, Penelope M. Earley, and Adam P. McGeehan examine the racial composition of one public school district\u27s teacher labor market through teacher application data and subsequent hiring decisions. Researchers and policy makers have long noted the lack of racial diversity among the nation\u27s public school teachers and identified supply as the root cause. Using a historical framework and problem definition theory, the authors question this supposition and explore the issue as a function of demand. Investigating a unique data set comprising all of the applications for teaching positions in a single, large school district, they analyze the extent to which race is associated with principals\u27 hiring decisions. They explore the rates at which Black and White candidates apply for teaching positions and compare those to the rates at which they are hired and the school demographics in which they are placed. Through a logistic regression analysis, the authors present evidence of discrimination in teacher hiring. Ceteris paribus, Black applicants were significantly less likely than their White counterparts to receive a job offer. Further, they find evidence of workforce segregation: when hired, Black teachers were significantly more likely to be placed in schools with large populations of children of color and children in poverty or schools characterized as struggling. The authors call for researchers, policy makers, and school leaders at the district and building levels to examine hiring practices, which may be symptomatic of broader institutional biases, so that they may identify and eliminate inherent prejudices

Efficacy of Alternative Dose Regimens of Exemestane in Postmenopausal Women With Stage 0 to II Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial

IMPORTANCE: Successful therapeutic cancer prevention requires definition of the minimal effective dose. Aromatase inhibitors decrease breast cancer incidence in high-risk women, but use in prevention and compliance in adjuvant settings are hampered by adverse events. OBJECTIVE: To compare the noninferiority percentage change of estradiol in postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer given exemestane, 25 mg, 3 times weekly or once weekly vs a standard daily dose with a noninferiority margin of -6%. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This multicenter, presurgical, double-blind phase 2b randomized clinical trial evaluated 2 alternative dosing schedules of exemestane. Postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer who were candidates for breast surgery were screened from February 1, 2017, to August 31, 2019. Blood samples were collected at baseline and final visit; tissue biomarker changes were assessed from diagnostic biopsy and surgical specimen. Biomarkers were measured in different laboratories between April 2020 and December 2021. INTERVENTIONS: Exemestane, 25 mg, once daily, 3 times weekly, or once weekly for 4 to 6 weeks before surgery. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Serum estradiol concentrations were measured by solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry detection. Toxic effects were evaluated using the National Cancer Institute terminology criteria, and Ki-67 was assessed by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: A total of 180 women were randomized into 1 of the 3 arms; median (IQR) age was 66 (60-71) years, 63 (60-69) years, and 65 (61-70) years in the once-daily, 3-times-weekly, and once-weekly arms, respectively. In the intention-to-treat population (n = 171), the least square mean percentage change of serum estradiol was -89%, -85%, and -60% for exemestane once daily (n = 55), 3 times weekly (n = 56), and once weekly (n = 60), respectively. The difference in estradiol percentage change between the once-daily and 3-times-weekly arms was -3.6% (P for noninferiority = .37), whereas in compliant participants (n = 153), it was 2.0% (97.5% lower confidence limit, -5.6%; P for noninferiority = .02). Among secondary end points, Ki-67 and progesterone receptor were reduced in all arms, with median absolute percentage changes of -7.5%, -5.0%, and -4.0% for Ki-67 in the once-daily, 3-times-weekly, and once-weekly arms, respectively (once daily vs 3 times weekly, P = .31; once daily vs once weekly, P = .06), and -17.0%, -9.0%, and -7.0% for progesterone receptor, respectively. Sex hormone-binding globulin and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol had a better profile among participants in the 3-times-weekly arm compared with once-daily arm. Adverse events were similar in all arms. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this randomized clinical trial, exemestane, 25 mg, given 3 times weekly in compliant patients was noninferior to the once-daily dosage in decreasing serum estradiol. This new schedule should be further studied in prevention studies and in women who do not tolerate the daily dose in the adjuvant setting