Suchergebnisse

"I read My Body Politic with admiration, sometimes for the pain that all but wept on the page, again for sheer exuberant friendships, for self-discovery, political imagination, and pluck. . . . Wonderful! In a dark time, a gift of hope. -Daniel Berrigan, S.J. "The struggles, joys, and political awakening of a firecracker of a narrator. . . . Linton has succeeded in creating a life both rich and enviable. With her crackle, irreverence, and intelligence, it's clear that the author would never be willing to settle. . . . Wholly enjoyable." -Kirkus Reviews "Linton is a passionate guide to a world many outsiders, and even insiders, find difficult to navigate. . . . In this volume, she recounts her personal odyssey, from flower child . . . to disability-rights/human rights activist." -Publishers Weekly "Witty, original, and political without being politically correct, introducing us to a cast of funny, brave, remarkable characters (including the professional dancer with one leg) who have changed the way that 'walkies' understand disability. By the time Linton tells you about the first time she was dancing in her wheelchair, you will feel like dancing, too." ---Carol Tavris, author of "Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion" "This astonishing book has perfect pitch. It is filled with wit and passion. Linton shows us how she learned to 'absorb disability, ' and to pilot a new and interesting body. With verve and wonder, she discovers her body's pleasures, hungers, surprises, hurts, strengths, limits, and uses." -Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, author of "Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature" "An extraordinarily readableaccount of life in the fast lane... a brilliant autobiography and a great read." -Sander L. Gilman, author of "Fat Boys: A Slim Book" While hitchhiking from Boston to Washington, D.C., in 1971 to protest the war in Vietnam, Simi Linton was involved in a car accident     The struggles, joys and political awakening of a firecracker of a narrator who has spent her adult life in a wheelchair. In 1971, Linton was your run-of-the-mill countercultural college dropout. But everything changed while she was hitchhiking to a demonstration against the Vietnam War. Sideswiped on the interstate, the author was instantly paralyzed, and her husband and best friend killed. Since that day, Linton has devoted herself to becoming many things-psychologist, professor, activist-while steadily refusing to be defined by her disability. It took much of the past 30-plus years for Linton to evolve from passive patient to professional woman determined to blend in, to activist in the disability rights movement. In a work that blends memoir and cultural critique, Linton discusses the history of disabled people and their marginalization. Long before she was aware of any kind of cultural context for her disability, Linton was determined to live her life fully: return to college, achieve a degree in psychology, live alone, drive a car. And she was seized with a need to make sense of her changed body, in particular to understand how her sex life would be affected. With romance in Manhattan, a sojourn in Berkeley, classes at Columbia and wheelchair dance lessons (taught by a quadriplegic friend), Linton has succeeded in creating a life both rich and enviable. With her crackle, irreverence and intelligence, it's clear that the author would never be willing to settle. Wholly enjoyable. (Kirkus Reviews)