110: MEMOIRIST: Rebekah Taussig on sitting pretty, disability, the motherhood transition and badass boots
Memoir Body, Healing Story with Janelle HardyShow Notes
It's episode #110 and I'm chatting with memoirist Rebekah Taussig, a Kansas City writer and educator with her doctorate in Creative Nonfiction and Disability Studies. I found Rebekah in my usual way, by clicking interesting links. One click led to another, and I landed on her marvelous Instagram account, Sitting Pretty. She'd just published her memoir of the same name, and had made a post about a sticker giveaway. I signed up and received some lovely stickers at my address in northern Canada, and then, a year later, walking into a bookstore, I saw her book on the shelf. I bought it, devoured it, and, on the off-change she might be interested in a podcast conversation, e-mailed to invite her on. Obviously, she said yes, and here we are! So, a little more about her… Rebekah lives with her fussy family of tenderhearted snugglers. She's spent most of her life immersed in the world of writing and reading – as a student, teacher, and human – because she believes that the words we use and the stories we tell matter. She grew up writing angsty poems in a fat notebook, songs on her guitar, and slip-stream fiction with protagonists who were always rebelling against the system. What started as instinct evolved into an academic study and eventually became a way of seeing the world. She's always looking for the powerful connection between the cultural narratives we tell and the world we live in, from physical spaces and economic opportunities to social roles and interpersonal relationships. She earned a PhD in Creative Nonfiction and Disability Studies from the University of Kansas, and she writes personal essays that participate in the stories being told about disability. She also runs an Instagram account, @sitting_pretty, where she regularly crafts "mini-memoirs" that explore what it means to live in my particular (disabled, female) body. Her memoir in essays, Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body is out now with HarperOne. The book is born from the most personal place, swaddled in academic knowledge, and shaped by the voice she's been honing online for years. It provides a nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most. It was so lovely to connect with Rebekah, and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy listening in. Website: www.rebekahtaussig.com Instagram: @sitting_pretty
More from Memoir Body, Healing Story with Janelle Hardy
It's episode #144 and I'm chatting with Celia McBride, a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist originally from the Yukon, now living in Port Hope. As a playwright, Celia's work was developed by numerous theatre companies in Canada (infinitheatre, Nightwood, Factory), and produced internationally by Red Kettle Theatre (Ireland) and Looking Glass Theatre (New York). She was commissioned by the Stratford Festival of Canada for the Studio Theatre's inaugural season, and Walk Right Up premiered there in 2002. From 2005-2011, Celia was the Co-Artistic Director of Sour Brides Theatre, touring her play So Many Doors (Playwrights Canada Press) across Canada. In 2015, she released a feature film, Last Stop for Miles, adapted from one of her first plays. Since 2014, Celia has been working as a spiritual director and providing spiritual care in long-term care homes. She published O My God: An Un-Becoming Journey, a memoir, in 2022. It was so lovely to connect with Celia, and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy listening in. Website: celiamcbride.com
It's episode #143 and I'm chatting with Victoria Albina, Nurse Practitioner with a Master's Degree in Public Health. This was such a great conversation! Victoria is intelligent, deep, knowledgeable and wise. We talked about how to identify when you're defaulting to perfectionism and people-pleasing, what the term 'somatics' means to her, what tipping points are like (the shift from thinking your feelings to feeling your feelings) and got into the fun stuff - all the 'nerditry and all the woo'. More about Victoria: she coaches codependent folks socialized as women to stop feeling anxious, exhausted and overwhelmed, so they can have better relationships with their partners, parents, and themselves. She does this because she knows this - she spent the first 30 years of her life stuck in codependent and perfectionist thinking. Being mean to herself, often without even realizing it. Demanding "perfection" from herself, not knowing that she was already perfect and worthy of love (just like you). Victoria is also a Master Certified Life Coach, and trained with The Life Coach School, the best boutique program in the country. She's a certified Breathwork Journey Meditation Facilitator, and she's experienced, having worked in health and wellness internationally as well as in the US, for 20 years. It was so lovely to connect with Victoria, and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy listening in. Website: Victoria Albina
It's episode #142 and I'm offering you a body-based writing prompt that sources from your nipples. We all have them!
It's episode #141 and I'm telling you an Irish fairy tale, The Brewery of Eggshells. If this story resonates with you, I really encourage you to read and listen to a few different versions, and make the story your own. Then stick around after the story for some guidance on working with tales like this, and your personal stories, and then, to start your own personal mythmaking get started with my free on-demand workshop, Outline Your Memoir Using Fairy Tale and Myth as Your Guide.
It's episode #140 and I'm chatting with Nicole Breit, a writer and the founder of Spark Your Story, an online writing school. I met Nicole online when she reached out to connect over our shared love of writing, teaching writing, and the challenges and delights of marketing and teaching writing courses online, from Canada.