Friday gimp blogging
One of the bonuses of not being bipedal anymore is that my shoes last forever and I can justify buying nice ones if I will love them and wear them for the next decade or more. It's not that I never wear out shoes -- I recently threw away a pair of Born fisherman style sandal shoes that I bought in Tempe, AZ, back in 1996. I just wear them out differently and much more slowly. The soles of my shoes never die, the seaming somewhere eventually gives up or the leather wears away. The red Doc maryjanes pictured above took away the sting of losing the Borns.
It was back in September that Jen Burke of A Life Less Convenient issued the challenge for bloggers to share photos of their bookshelves. Here's part of mine. What you see is mostly books on disability studies, though there is some poetry, fiction, middle eastern/Islamic history, and other randomness at the bottom.
No Pity by Joseph Shapiro is probably still the book I like best for summarizing the history of disability in the United States. Mary Johnson's Make Them Go Away offers the best, most enraging picture of cultural attitudes about disability in America today. But neither of those excellent writers are gimps.
Written by disabled folks themselves, I like Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out, edited by poet Kenny Fries, whose Body, Remember is on that bottom shelf. My "to read soon" bookpile is not pictured, but I'm excited about Georgina Kleege's Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller, Simi Linton's My Body Politic and the Nebula Award winning sci-fi novel The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, which has a main character with autism.
I met Linton briefly at a disability studies conference in Oakland and cornered her in the bathroom to mention how much I'd enjoyed her first book, Claiming Disability. Oh, the shame.
An excerpt from Kleege's book appeared in the fantastic collection Points of Contact: Disability, Art and Culture, edited by Susan Crutchfield and Marcy Jo Epstein, and I've thought about it many times since. So, I know Blind Rage will be a cool mix of memoir, history, disability and well, I think, feminism.
To extend the challenge: What does your bookshelf look like?
7 comments:
I haven't recently taken a photo of my books, but I will say, since you showed off yours, that I'm also a wearer of DM maryjanes. I scored two second-hand, never-worn pairs in my size, powder blue and minty green, recently--under $5 each pair--whoo-hoo.
Seems like my shoes are taking MORE of a beating now that I use the chair: all the twisting and grinding to get them on, and getting squished and pinched against things...
LOOOOOVE the shoes! I have a pair of MJ Birkenstocks - but have NEVER found any - anywhere - like yours. Verrrrry nice.
I an a wheelchair user with Arthritis, so my legs and feet work well enough to drive with, and to briefly stand while transfering. My shoes wear-out in one spot where My foot rests on the gas pedal of my car, and apparently the same spot is used when I transfer. I have small holes in the exact spot after about two or three years of use.
About books:
http://leroystanwood.com/book.htm
Leroy Stanwood led an interesting full lifetime with a disability. I was fortunate enough to be able to help keep his website running after his death, and in return was sent several copies of his book. His book was self written and self published. I don;t think it has an ISBN number either, but is very interesting. I have a few extra copies and would be happy to forward one to anyone that emails me. However, I would prefer, of course, that you purchase one from his website.
Penny and Susan: Whoo-hooo for maryjanes!
Brainhell: I know what you mean, though my shoes do seem to last. They get marks in strange places because I use my feet for leverage, bracing them against things while I work with my arms or hands.
Al: Leroy looks very familiar. I wonder if I've seen him somewhere before.
How much is his book?
I would be happy to mail you his book, no charge, if you email me at afgillis@comcast.net or Adele.Gillis@state.ma.us
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