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A review by madisnowg
Places I've Taken My Body: Essays by Molly McCully Brown
4.0
in this collection of essays, brown writes more than once about representation, about the profound experience of seeing herself in the writing of others, and the importance of writing the kind of thing other disabled people can recognize themselves in.
i read her essay “calling long distance,” included in this collection, in my dorm room in the spring of 2019. i was in a raw time of my life — for the first time, it was occurring to me that the sunk-in-my-bones feeling of what i now know as disability was shared by other people. i was nervous to use the word “disabled,” thinking maybe it didn’t apply to me. the way brown described being in pain at a party bit right at my heart. i could’ve written the words i was reading. it wasn’t the only data point i was working off of, but reading that essay pushed me over the edge towards knowing i was disabled, too.
similarly, this collection found me at a time in my life where i needed the author’s honest clarity about being alive in a different body. i have so much gratitude for her work, and i can’t wait to return to this again throughout my life.
i read her essay “calling long distance,” included in this collection, in my dorm room in the spring of 2019. i was in a raw time of my life — for the first time, it was occurring to me that the sunk-in-my-bones feeling of what i now know as disability was shared by other people. i was nervous to use the word “disabled,” thinking maybe it didn’t apply to me. the way brown described being in pain at a party bit right at my heart. i could’ve written the words i was reading. it wasn’t the only data point i was working off of, but reading that essay pushed me over the edge towards knowing i was disabled, too.
similarly, this collection found me at a time in my life where i needed the author’s honest clarity about being alive in a different body. i have so much gratitude for her work, and i can’t wait to return to this again throughout my life.