Nov 9, 2007 -- When Dr. Joanne Jacobson – Professor of English at Yeshiva College – teaches her students how to write first-person creative non-fiction, she is sharing information she has gained first hand. Dr. Jacobson, author of the newly released “Hunger Artist: A Suburban Childhood” (Bottom Dog Press, 2007), has made her mark as an essayist who combines the literary strategies of fiction with the craft of writing a memoir. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the College, Dr. Jacobson tells students “to work from specific experiences; to write about things like food, or relationships in their lives.” She also believes that students must get “more deeply involved in revision. If I can make the revision process feel integral,” she says, “that will be with them forever.” “Hunger Artist,” based on personal essays published in journals such as “American Literary Review” and “The New England Review,” depicts the author’s experiences as a Jewish child raised in the Midwest in the 1950s and 1960s. “My work as a writer and teacher is defined by my particular generation,” she says, noting that she is among those “with immigrant grandparents and first-generation American parents. I grew up in the country of hope and change.” Explaining that her particular hunger was to do writing, Dr. Jacobson – who holds degrees in American Civilization from the University of Illinois and University of Iowa and has also published a scholarly book as well as critical essays – describes another kind of hunger, as well. “I wanted to show that [even] a world of tremendous prosperity and plenty doesn’t necessarily answer our deep emotional needs,” she says. “There can be loneliness even in an environment of upward mobility.” Still, she knows that her parents struggled “out of love, trying to do their best” for their children. The author – who has taught American studies, American literature, and creative writing at the University of Iowa, the University of Angers, France, and Middlebury College – notes also that her generation of suburban Jews was called upon to “forge a new set of models” in constructing Jewish communal life, redefining things such as the role of the synagogue and the very idea of being a Jew. “I hope the book reflects a sense of generosity,” says Dr. Jacobson, adding that she aims for the same quality in her teaching. “Teachers who expect the same thing from each student won’t have a chance to learn from their students.”