Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life - Brossura

Johnson, Harriet

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0312425716 ISBN 13: 9780312425715

Casa editrice: Picador, 2006

Riassunto

A Washington Post Book World Rave

Harriet McBryde Johnson's witty and highly unconventional memoir opens with a lyrical meditation on death and ends with a bold and unsentimental sermon on pleasure. Born with a congenital neuromuscular disease, Johnson has never been able to walk, dress, or bathe without assistance. With assistance, she passionately celebrates her life's richness and pleasures and pursues a formidable career as an attorney and activist. Whether rolling on the streets of Havana, on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, or in an auditorium at Princeton debating philosopher Peter Singer, Harriet McBryde Johnson defies every preconception about people with disabilities, and shows how a life, be it long or short, is a treasure of infinite value.

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Informazioni sull?autore

Harriet McBryde Johnson has been a lawyer in Charleston, South Carolina, since 1985. Her solo practice emphasizes benefits and civil rights claims for poor and working people with disabilities. For more than twenty-five years, she has been active in the struggle for social justice, especially disability rights. She holds the world endurance record (fourteen years without interruption) for protesting the Jerry Lewis telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. She served the City of Charleston Democratic Party for eleven years, first as secretary and then as chair. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine and to the disability press.

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Too Late to Die Young

Nearly True Tales from a LifeBy Harriet McBryde Johnson

Picador USA

Copyright © 2006 Harriet McBryde Johnson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780312425715
From Too Late to Die Young:
Susan gets me on gospel radio because she likes the guys at the station. They're jokey and jivey and very Christian. I like their studio. It's all eight-track, 1970s technology. No fancy electronics here; the engineer turns dials and flicks mechanical switches. On one of their cartridges that's been reused and relabeled countless times, I lay down my spot:

I'm Harriet McBryde Johnson. I'm running for Charleston County Council.

You might know me as the wheelchair lawyer who pickets the telethon. People ask me why I do that. The answer is, human dignity is not for sale.

Why am I running for County Council? Because government, too, should treat every citizen with dignity and respect.

When the base closes, what kind of community will we be? If you want a voice in what happens, vote for me, Harriet McBryde Johnson, and the Democratic ticket.

I'll do my best for you.

"'I'll do my best for you,'" one of the radio men repeats. "Is that your slogan?"

It sounds pretty weak I think. "I don't think so. I don't think we have a slogan yet. Maybe we'll run a contest. Got any ideas?"

On departing, I give them the latest edition of the Temporary Campaign Brochure. I don't ask for a copy of my tape. I'd have no way to play it, and eight-tracks are in short supply. Every cartridge is needed in the Lord's service.




Continues...

Excerpted from Too Late to Die Youngby Harriet McBryde Johnson Copyright © 2006 by Harriet McBryde Johnson. Excerpted by permission.
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Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Picador
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0312425716
• ISBN 13: 9780312425715
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 276
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile