Jennine Capó Crucet is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and an associate professor in the Department of English and the Institute for Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska. She is the author of My Time Among the Whites: Notes From an Unfinished Education,Make Your Home Among Strangers, and How to Leave Hialeah.
My love and respect for the craft of writing fuel my commitment to teaching it. But it was a long time before I could envision academia including someone like me.