Nell

Nell is the protagonist of "Gender Studies." She is a recently divorced gender and women's studies professor visiting Kansas City for a work conference when she has an unexpected sexual encounter with the driver of her hotel's shuttle van, a man several years her junior to whom she feels intellectually and ethically superior. (Her judgment of him is formed shortly after they meet when he declares his admiration for Donald Trump, still a candidate for president when the story takes place.) Nell knows that she is an "elitist a--hole" (13), but feels unable to control her condescending attitude towards the driver. Their sexual encounter occurs when Nell is intoxicated, and she ends it abruptly when she learns that the driver has not brought her lost license as he had promised. For years following this event, Nell thinks back on it with a mix of embarrassment and longing.

Julie

Julie...