Professors of English Lisa Botshon and Ellen Taylor represented the University of Maine at Augusta at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers conference in Philadelphia. Taylor shared her research titled “Neuralgia and Nasturtium: Celia Thaxter’s Gardening Rest Cure,” which draws on the 19th-century writer’s creation of a famed cutting garden on Appledore Island and explores how nature, healing and creativity intertwined in her work.
Botshon’s presentation builds on content from her interdisciplinary course on bathroom spaces and examines the broader health-home ideas advanced by Harriet Beecher Stowe who, with her sister Catharine Beecher, was an early and influential advocate for indoor plumbing.
Together their work reflects UMA’s commitment to innovative scholarship and interdisciplinary thinking.