Sunday, July 15, 2007

seizure literature

Sometimes, conversations just need endnotes - like, the link to I Can Has Cheezburger or everyone's favorite anesthiologist blog, The Underwear Drawer, or the name of an artist or something. Usually I send these in an e-mail, but I'm posting this one here instead.

Today I saw Talented Hands at a sing-along and was telling her about The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. I'd never even bothered to mention it to her before because I assumed this was the kind of book people tell you about all the time when your baby has seizures. But I was wrong - she'd never heard of it. So, Miss Handypants, here's the link! Read it! Buy it from Amazon! Or you can borrow it from me, but my copy is here and you are there!

For those who haven't read it and weren't at our conversation, it's a beautifully written nonfiction book about a Hmong immigrant family in the central valley of California; their daughter has epilepsy and there's major cultural misunderstanding between them and their doctors. It's a great book and I highly recommend it.

And for those who don't keep up with the adventures of T.Hand and Roxy, the blog is here and I can tell you - eyewitness account from yesterday's party - that is one cute baby. Also, she doesn't have seizures anymore and no longer has a tube in her nose. Yay!

8 comments:

Stacey Pelika said...

Yeah, that is a great book! And I've come across it in so many contexts! I know profs in multiple fields who assign it - it manages to evoke so many issues while also being very readable.

Also, as a Minnesotan, anything that focuses on the Hmong community wins points. It's always interesting to gauge reactions when I tell people that the state has some of the largest Hmong and Somali communities in the country - they usually range between "Huh? Really?" (i.e. "You're not _all_ Scandinavian?!?!") and "Who? What now?"

erin*carly said...

i was just about to send T.Hand the link to my Roxy photo . . . but i'll post it here, too!

our favorite miracle baby!

towwas said...

EC, the link doesn't work for me!

J.Po said...

I've given that book as a gift several times. SO SO good, particularly for a public healther like myself. But as Spice notes, there are many messages for everyone in those pages.

towwas said...

It's true - I've used it as an outstanding example of narrative nonfiction. (It's shelved with other books I wish I'd written, right next to Seabiscuit.)

erin*carly said...

yea, the link doesn't work at all. it also didn't translate correctly on T.Hand's blog either. maybe something going on with blogger? anyway, here's the direct address (you'll need to copy paste)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rokstar/820155510/

Talentedhands said...

Awwwwwww, THANKS! I've gotta get my hands on that book.

towwas said...

In fact, now that I think of it, it was assigned in one of my feature-writing classes. So that's another prof who assigns it!