On this page the following entries were made in the “identity” category.
Archive for “identity”
Wheelchairs, Jocks, Geeks & Glee
Under the influence of our 14 year old, dance-crazed neighbor I’ve watched Glee from the beginning. (Under her influence I’ve also watched every episode of So You Think You Can Dance for the past three years.)
On first watch of Glee I was impressed with how exaggerated and over the top the show was. It also had irony and a bite—a send-up rather than a satire. The characters are hyper-stereotypes. representing some of the more visible high school cliques, in particular, jocks, cheerleaders, and the glee club members (who are at the bottom of the high school pecking order.) The plot is almost always unbelievable yet based on our painful perceptions of high school, which is part of the fun.
For awhile I was confused about the role of the wheelchair-using glee club member, Artie.
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Tribal Membership
February 20, 2010
Tribal Membership
This week I received an email from someone I didn’t know, a wheelchair user. He’s a quad who became disabled after a diving accident over thirty-five years ago. How do I know all that from the first line of his email? He told me. It read, “I am a C5-6 quad since [...]
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Dorthea Lange
“In 1957 when her students at California Institute of Art asked [Dorthea] Lange for a picture to fit the title, “Where I Live,” she submitted one of of her twisted right foot.” San Francisco Chronicle, 11-8-09 in a review of Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits by Linda Gordon.
More and more these days it’s OK [...]
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Melody Gardot and her disability identity
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. She, [...]
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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 [...]
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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 the [...]
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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 [...]
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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 life. [...]
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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 and [...]
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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, a wheelchair [...]
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