Just got the latest Melody Gardot CD, “My One and Only Thrill.” She’s one of those smokey-sounding women songsters that seem to have a resurgence lately–Madeleine Peyroux, Amy Winehouse, etc. Not only do I like her music, but I’m also impressed with her disability identity. On her MySpace page she talks about the term disability. […]
Category: identity
Pets show us the way?
According to a news story, Ruby didn’t miss use of hind legs, in the San Francisco Chronicle, “As a UC Davis surgeon once said when asked about dogs and amputation, “People tend to humanize the loss of a limb and dogs don’t. As long as they aren’t in pain and doing the things they love […]
Statues…That Reminds Me
From what I can tell from this side of the pond, there was a huge hue and cry when it was announced in 2005 that a sculpture of a naked, pregnant, disabled woman would be on display in Trafalgar Square for 18 months. I can’t imagine a statue like this in a public space in […]
Who We Are
One of the pleasant surprises using my Tivo is the programs it records on its own using my favorites. Last night I noticed that I could watch Tavis Smiley‘s interview of the governor of New York from Monday, July 21, 2008. The governor, David Paterson, is the first African American governor for that state and […]
Orozco–Mexican Muralist
Another one! Disabled artists are everywhere. Our local PBS station aired a documentary, “Man on Fire,” about Jose Clemente Orozco. He was a muralist and contemporary and rival to Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo’s husband. Towards the end of his life he became more famous than Diego. The interesting aspect is how his disability affected his […]
Love the Phrasing “…able-bodied and disabled”
This morning in our local paper, the Press Democrat, a columnist said, talking about the invitees for an upcoming community supper, “The idea is that folks wealthy and poor, native-born and immigrant, able-bodied and disabled…will sit and visit… .” I wrote to thank the columnist, Chris Coursey. When I read the column I was struck […]
Change in the Zeitgeist
For the second time this week I’ve seen reference to how someone’s disability helped to make a new product or song. This is the exact opposite of the super crip or the overcomer. It shows a reality that I know. When you’ve got a disability you have to be inventive. The first is Doc Pomus, […]
Not Overcoming Nor Transforming But Integrating
In last Sunday’s Book Review section in the San Francisco Chronicle Sanford D. Horwitt reviewed Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf She. “whatever greatness Lincoln achieved cannot be explained as a triumph over personal suffering. Rather, it must be accounted for as an outgrowth of the same […]