Posted on 06/05/2005 11:45:26 AM PDT by 8mmMauser
"Too Late To Die Young: Nearly True Tales From a Life," by Harriet McBryde Johnson.
About two years ago, Harriet Johnson appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. If you saw her portrait, you probably haven't forgotten it.
A thin woman in a wheelchair leans forward, a purple shawl draping one shoulder. Johnson describes it this way in her new memoir: "The portrait has been described as beautifully disturbing, and most nondisabled people seem to see it that way. I'd prefer to call it disturbingly beautiful, but I'll take it the other way around if I must."
Johnson has an unnamed muscle-wasting disease, but don't dare say she "suffers" from it. She insists on being her own complicated person, a Southern lady, for instance, as well as a socialist, an atheist, a lawyer and a born storyteller with a wicked sense of humor.
She eschews pity and sentimentality. She supports the work of Not Dead Yet, a group of anti-euthanasia activists who demonstrated outside Terri Schiavo's Pinellas Park hospice earlier this year, dramatically sliding out of their wheelchairs and lying on the ground.
And though Johnson hates the hackneyed trope of triumph in the face of disability, she nevertheless has a string of interesting adventures. She runs for elected office. She travels to Cuba to discuss disability rights. She protests the Jerry Lewis telethon annually in her hometown of Charleston, S.C., and she bribes her friends to join her with promises of free food.
Her gripe with the telethon is its grim prognostications. When she was 30, her mother became ill, and Johnson had to accept for the first time that, contrary to all expectations, she might indeed outlive her parents. "While anyone may die young, it's not something you can count on," she writes. "You have to be prepared to survive." It's that angry, proud but utterly normal brand of survival that is at the heart of Johnson's memoir.
The most fascinating chapter is her encounter with the philosopher and animal rights activist Peter Singer. (It was this encounter that rated The New York Times Magazine cover.) Singer believes that in some cases it is morally acceptable for parents to kill severely disabled infants. Johnson disagrees, so much so that she fears even debating him would dignify his ideas as socially acceptable. Nevertheless, she meets him, travels to Princeton University to debate him and ends up with a great story about it.
The best memoirs don't necessarily tell every event in a person's life, but they do capture the voice and the emotional feel of the author. Yes, it's impossible for a nondisabled person to fully know what Johnson's life is like. But her writing is so vibrant, so interesting and so funny that you can't help but feel as if you're in her world, sitting beside her and hearing her story for yourself.
not to mention that her "mind ain't right"..... LOL
bttt
What if Felos and his buddies let Micheal be hung out to dry by a grand jury now that the big players are done with their political agendas?
I don't think Felos is a criminal lawyer. Does anyone else know?
I remember that Felos kept saying over and over, "This is about Terri". I struck me as odd sometimes because he seemed to say it out of context on occasion.
I wonder if Felos thinks Micheal is guilty of doing something to Terri and just used MS for his death and dying platform long enough to suit his own interest.
If so and Micheal is indited, I will bet that Felos and his cronies will scatter to the wind and let Micheal get ate up by the Florida alligators down there. That would detract attention from allegations of any wrong doing on the Euthanasia/Scientology movements part.
They say politics is the art of shifting blame. I have a funny feeling there are lot of people who would like to get the heat off themselves and are just looking for a nice juicy scapegoat for the American medias attention.
Ya know, Felos doesn't care about anyone other than death. He is not a criminal lawyer and if Michael got into trouble he would not represent him and would have nothing to do with the case. He got his money and that is all that man cares about besides death! He is sick and twisted. These type of men will hang anyone out to dry!
Terri bump
Terri's mom and dad are about to be on Hannity and Colmes! Too bad Sean isn't there tonight! It gives Alan free reign to be an ass to them.
After reading your ideas, I think you have something there. When more folks read and ingest Mark Fuhrman's book - maybe (I hope and pray) they might start looking at the bigger fish!
BTW, In New York State the Quinnipiac University poll was off by a whooping 13 points in the last Comptroller's race.
It's difficult to know when to believe these polls or when not to.
This was one not to believe. It was a "Do you approve or disapprove" questionaire. Of course, most people got their info from the MSM who couldn't find a truthful fact if it was tattooed on them. Not knowing the facts, how could responders have a clue whether they approved or disapproved?
The questions are in the link in post 7.
OIC, another fixed poll.
It was a very dramatic difference.
..agree or disagree with [ removing TS's] feeding tube?
Reps 3o% agree strongly...36% disagree strongly
Dims 43% agree strongly...25% disagree strongly
..approve of the way [GW handled the TS case]?
Reps...57% approve....37% disapprove
Dims...17% approve....79% disapprove (!!!!)
So you can see why the overall averages where messed up..too many dimwits voting!
It's so easy to skew polls. And people haven't caught on. Yet.
morning bump
Honestly, i wish they'd stop doing polls. I think they are useless and put pressure on our politicians to make wrong choices!
I just read Silent Witness by Mark Fuhrman. Good book, but I don't understand why he couldn't hold off a few weeks and do a chapter on the autopsy report.
Fuhrman is deeply suspicious of Michael Schiavo and makes no bones about it. There's good reason to be, and he lays it out clearly.
The nurse affidavits are in appendices, as are the bone scan and police report.
I can't say it's a great book, though I will if (in my dreams) it starts a groundswell that leads to an investigation that leads to...at least to Michael Schiavo getting hooked up with a lie detector.
Do I recommend buying it? Yes, definitely. There's plenty in there I didn't know, and I've done a heap of reading on the Schiavo case.
I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I am very much looking forward to it.
Zogby's poll was over 80 per cent against starving people to death. I can't recall it it was with or without written directives in that poll. Push polls will ask questions which only yield skewed answers.
The judges are still in hot water too. I'm not getting any more specific than that to keep them guessing.
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