As a woman starting her own academic career soon, I found this book wonderfully helpful. It has given me a deeper appreciation and respect for lesbians and gay men who struggle with how out they can be on their campuses. It has also made me think about how I will approach and respect gay and lesbian issues in my own classroom. Just as straight people may look at their collegues and students and wonder who may be gay or lesbian, gays and lesbians are looking at straight people and trying to figure out who they can safely come out to.

McNaron's work also emphaszied the vital connection between our personal lives and our academic work. When the two are painfully separated from each other, they both suffer. Her story, and many of the others she includes, demonstrate how much more fruitful and satisfying your work can be, for yourself and the larger acadmic community, when your personal and academic lives can work together. This is a lesson all of us, regardless of sexual orientation, can learn from.

What could be more useful than a scholarly work in jargon-free prose to spark interior monologs and ignite discussions? Both as a comfort and a goad, this survey/memoir is a gift for not only lesbian and gay academics, but their families. For straight colleagues, reading the book ought to be like peering at their own campuses and careers through much-needed hornrims.

Now in a newly revised and expanded second edition, I Dwell In Possibility: A Memoir by retired educator Toni McNaron is the personal history and testimony of a woman who grew up witness to southern apartheid in Alabama and who endured a long internal battle in search of her artistic and sexual identity. The thoughts, life history, and spiritually evolutionary experiences of an award-winning writer and educator make for a riveting, inspirational, and thoroughly absorbing read. I Dwell In Possibility is especially recommended for Women's Studies reading lists and academic reference collections.