Archive for the ‘amputee’ Category
Last year I set a HUGE goal for myself: to train for the qualifying race to win a spot on the U.S. paracanoe team heading to the 2013 World Sprints. It’s a particularly ambitious goal because I’m switching from the 6-man long distance ocean canoeing that I’ve been doing for several years to paddling a [...]
When I go through the “TSA personal massage” process, the agents giving the patdown are usually skeeved when they feel my right calf and foot, which are textured to feel like real flesh and bone. I’ve been told that it gives them the “chills” to feel something so real and know that it’s not. Or, [...]
I spent this morning in the ocean with some coaches, getting tips on my long-distance swimming. I’m new at this, so I had a lot to learn, and it was incredibly generous of these folks to offer their time to help me. It was arranged via the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), for disabled athletes who [...]
This post feels a bit like a PSA rather than a typical pilgrimsteps post. But I wanted to share my experience with PPIs just in case it might be of help to some of you…. Last year I struggled to paddle because of severe back pain that was due to some problems with my prosthesis. [...]
I’ve been going through some of my older posts lately, and came across this one that I posted just before heading to Europe last summer (oh, I can remember now how nervous I was about that trip, my first to Brussels). This phrase jumped out at me today from the Baz Luhrman speech: Enjoy your [...]
As I packed my suitcase for this trip, I remember pretty distinctly the moment that I packed all of my power cords–checking to make sure that I had phone charger, iPod charger, and laptop cord (all necessities for a technology conference). And it wasn’t until last night that I realized which power cord I forgot–the [...]
Monday morning I found myself in Zurich, as an unexpected but pleasant detour on my Europe trip. It was the day that the full force of jet lag hit me, so I was walking around in more than a bit of a mental fog. Fortunately as I breakfasted with a local friend (@chanson), she showed [...]
Cyborg writing is about the power to survive, not on the basis of original innocence, but on the basis of seizing the tools to mark the world that marked them as other. –Donna Haraway
I was re-reading some of my older writing recently in preparation for an art workshop at UCBerkeley this week and found this old recording of me reading my creative nonfiction story Pose [pdf download]. How odd it sounds to me to hear my voice. Like it’s me, but not me. As I listen I hear [...]
This is a ‘classic’ post that seemed worth revisiting for the “Day of DH,” while I’m contemplating my own identity as a cyborg and the price I pay for that luxury. Sometimes I make jokes about being a “bionic woman” or a “cyborg.” Having a prosthetic leg with a computer-controlled knee joint lends itself to [...]
One of the by-products of my recent-ish divorce is that I just barely got my own health insurance policy. It’s the first time that I’ve had insurance on my own (not as the result of being a dependent of someone else), and seems a pretty big step for me in being financially and legally independent. [...]
Some things that are making me smile today: Ellycat napping in the warm laundry Using the Matrix to book an upcoming flight to Europe (still can’t make up my mind whether to fly to Rome, Paris or Brussels, though) Spending a few moments in a train station bright and early this morning. A smooth brew [...]
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