Stern College

A female student helping herself to dinner in the Yeshiva University cafeteria usually stands out like plant life on Mars. But, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and the resulting influx of 200 Stern College women onto the men’s Washington Heights campus, the usual monotonous cafeteria scene was transformed.

Men and women, equally represented, stood together in lines and sat together at lunch tables, chatting, laughing and enjoying the co-ed hiatus.

In an interview, Joy Ladin begins several responses, “When I started living as myself…” For the Stern College professor, poet and author, the boundary between then and now, between living a lie and leading an authentic life, is her transition from man to woman.