- January 30, 2024
She writes. All the time and about everything, breaking barriers with every word. In fact, at age 6 when most children were learning the alphabet, Lynn Bloom wrote her first play, staged it in a tissue box, and brought it to school to entertain her peers. At that time, inspired by joyous Dr. Seuss, she decided to become a writer and an English professor. Her first major book was Doctor Spock: Biography of a Conservative Radical (1972). How did she get access to America’s most prominent pediatrician ? She simply asked him.
Lynn has written 24 more books and hundreds of essays; married the man she loved despite her parents’ objections; earned her PhD, and for three years commuted from St. Louis to an English professorship at the University of New Mexico while raising two children with her husband, a professor of Social Work. Dr. Spock taught her that “if you don’t write clearly, someone could die.” That advice remains her mantra as she continues to write. She writes to teach, to learn, to express, to connect, and to do what she’s always done: “ live deliberately and fulfill her own agenda,” beneficial as well to family, students , colleagues, and friends. Her writing soothes against life’s insults and revels in its victories.
The ascendant arc of Lynn’s academic and writing career happened in spite of the social conventions that could have constrained her. Few women had the courage or the ambition to defy the double standards of the 50’s and 60’s. Even fewer achieved the professional and academic distinction she now claims, including an endowed professorship and numerous fellowships. Dr. Bloom has not only overcome obstacles, she’s left a path of feminist principles for others to follow.
Dr. Lynn Bloom writes. All the time. About everything that matters.