chronic illness
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The Hawk in Me
I continue to adapt. I do all of this because I cannot run away, not really. There is nowhere to go. The hawk is the thing within me.
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Metaphors for My Forgetful Heart
My body is a drum, its last vibration fading out. My body is a temple, serene and contemplative, all voices finally stilled. My body is a glider plane, floating on warm currents of air in the eerie, engineless quiet.
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The Rumpus Interview with Esmé Weijun Wang
Esmé Weijun Wang discusses her first novel, The Border of Paradise, about a multi-generational new American family, creative expression through writing and photography, and interracial relationships.
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Declared Fit
My affective response is not appropriate to the questionnaire. I drop tears on it. My face is hot and red above it. My body is full of the wrong kind of information. Not data. Not paper print out. The typed…
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Light/Dark
At the New Yorker, Ed Caesar interviews Anna Lyndsey, author of the memoir Girl in the Dark, about her mysterious light sensitivity that kept her in the dark for over a decade. Citing prominent dermatologists, Ceasar questions Lyndsey’s symptoms and explores the possibility that…
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Spotlight: “Migraine Couch” by Allyson Hoffman
“Migraine Couch” reflects how daily life and memory are shaped by chronic illness.
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Out of Order
In summertime, a small group of white, middle-aged, well-educated men were obsessed with my ass.
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Wild, Salty Body of Water
Sometimes, thick clouds roll in like doubts, and the god-like giants are obscured to the point where I almost swear they never existed. Other days, there’s no questioning their presence.
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Breaking and Burning
They pin him down and I stick him. I am relentless. This disease is relentless. And I am so pissed off.
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Strands
The self was attacking the self. My body was blaming itself: it didn’t matter how many times I said or anyone else said, “It isn’t your fault.” I believed it was.
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Born This Way and the Children Who Never Fully Leave Home
Nobody talked to me about what happened when my sister grew up until I was headed off to college.
