Normal Life

Author: Dean Spade
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 082237479X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
Revised and Expanded Edition Wait—what's wrong with rights? It is usually assumed that trans and gender nonconforming people should follow the civil rights and "equality" strategies of lesbian and gay rights organizations by agitating for legal reforms that would ostensibly guarantee nondiscrimination and equal protection under the law. This approach assumes that the best way to address the poverty and criminalization that plague trans populations is to gain legal recognition and inclusion in the state's institutions. But is this strategy effective? In Normal Life Dean Spade presents revelatory critiques of the legal equality framework for social change, and points to examples of transformative grassroots trans activism that is raising demands that go beyond traditional civil rights reforms. Spade explodes assumptions about what legal rights can do for marginalized populations, and describes transformative resistance processes and formations that address the root causes of harm and violence. In the new afterword to this revised and expanded edition, Spade notes the rapid mainstreaming of trans politics and finds that his predictions that gaining legal recognition will fail to benefit trans populations are coming to fruition. Spade examines recent efforts by the Obama administration and trans equality advocates to "pinkwash" state violence by articulating the US military and prison systems as sites for trans inclusion reforms. In the context of recent increased mainstream visibility of trans people and trans politics, Spade continues to advocate for the dismantling of systems of state violence that shorten the lives of trans people. Now more than ever, Normal Life is an urgent call for justice and trans liberation, and the radical transformations it will require.

A Nearly Normal Life

Author: Charles L. Mee
Publisher: Hachette+ORM
ISBN: 0316400580
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 155

Book Description
In the summer of 1953 the author was a carefree, athletic boy of fourteen. But after he collapsed during a school dance one night, he was suddenly bedridden, drifting in & out of consciousness, as his body disintegrated into a shadow of its former self. He had been stricken with spinal polio. When he emerged from the grip of the disease, he was confronted with a life change so enormous that it challenged all he had believed in & forced him, despite his young age, to redefine himself. His once stereotypically normal life, filled with baseball & swimming pools & dreams of girls, had been irreversibly altered. He was almost the same person he had been; he was nearly normal. His moving personal narrative is a textured portrait of life in the fifties - a time when America & her fighting spirit collided with this disease. Both funny & profound, he is a gifted, unique writer, who unravels the mysteries of youth in a Cold War climate, who gives voice to the mind of a child with a potentially fatal disease, & whose recognition of himself as a disabled outsider heightens his brilliant talents as a storyteller.

A Normal Life

Author: Kim Rich
Publisher: Graphic Arts Books
ISBN: 194332851X
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Book Description
After an unconventional childhood that ended in the tragic death of her mother and the murder of her Alaskan mobster father, Kim Rich was left on her own at the young age of fifteen to fend for herself. Ever since then, she began a nearly lifelong pursuit in chasing what most others had—a normal life. Rich tugs at your heartstrings as you follow her journey toward normalcy, from her teen years, freshly orphaned, through her high school years spent couch-surfing at local families’ homes, then through her college years, a failed first marriage, and a rising career as a journalist. Through frank and down-to-earth storytelling, Rich also tells of her grandfather’s kidnapping, a frightening health crisis, and a six-year attempt to have children. Picking up right where her first memoir, Johnny’s Girl, left off, A Normal Life recounts the author’s vivid story of being an ordinary girl faced with extraordinary circumstances—at seemingly every turn in life—with grace, humility, and wit.

A Normal Life

Author: Vassilis Palaiokostas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781904491408
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
"I never legislated, I never enforced, and I never obeyed any laws! Laws dictated by the interests of a handful of rulers. I came across their laws everywhere, but I never found justice. I'll remain with the unique ones; the uncatchables. Those that consciously chose to lead their lives normally, reacting to an abnormal world..." A Normal Life is the autobiography of Vassilis Palaiokostas, known to some as the 'Greek Robin Hood', to others as 'The Uncatchable'. His is a life of kidnappings and robberies. A life lived in defiance of the police and of the state. For decades it has been a life lived as a fugitive. It is a life led extraordinarily. He has become a modern folk hero of sorts, earning millions in robbed banks and kidnapped CEOs whilst distributing his gains to those who need it most. He is most famous for not only one but two helicopter escapes from the Korydallos Prison in Athens. Vassilis Palaiokostas is hated by the authorities, deemed a terrorist, his freedom a continued insult to the Greek state. Now, translated to English for the first time, Palaiokostas tells his story in his own words. He does not justify his actions, but elaborates his motivations and dreams and their totality. A Normal Life is a gripping account of life on the run and in prison, of car chases, prison life, daring escapades and the camaraderie of bandit life. It is also the story of his motivations. He is still free.

Normal People

Author: Sally Rooney
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1984822195
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • “A stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships” (People) from the author of Conversations with Friends, “a master of the literary page-turner” (J. Courtney Sullivan). “[A] novel that demands to be read compulsively, in one sitting.”—The Washington Post ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’S TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: People, Slate, The New York Public Library, Harvard Crimson Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation—awkward but electrifying—something life changing begins. A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship, and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t. WINNER: The British Book Award, The Costa Book Award, The An Post Irish Novel of the Year, Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Vogue, Esquire, Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire, Vox, The Paris Review, Good Housekeeping, Town & Country

Saving Normal

Author: Allen Frances, M.D.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062229273
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
From "the most powerful psychiatrist in America" (New York Times) and "the man who wrote the book on mental illness" (Wired), a deeply fascinating and urgently important critique of the widespread medicalization of normality Anyone living a full, rich life experiences ups and downs, stresses, disappointments, sorrows, and setbacks. These challenges are a normal part of being human, and they should not be treated as psychiatric disease. However, today millions of people who are really no more than "worried well" are being diagnosed as having a mental disorder and are receiving unnecessary treatment. In Saving Normal, Allen Frances, one of the world's most influential psychiatrists, warns that mislabeling everyday problems as mental illness has shocking implications for individuals and society: stigmatizing a healthy person as mentally ill leads to unnecessary, harmful medications, the narrowing of horizons, misallocation of medical resources, and draining of the budgets of families and the nation. We also shift responsibility for our mental well-being away from our own naturally resilient and self-healing brains, which have kept us sane for hundreds of thousands of years, and into the hands of "Big Pharma," who are reaping multi-billion-dollar profits. Frances cautions that the new edition of the "bible of psychiatry," the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5), will turn our current diagnostic inflation into hyperinflation by converting millions of "normal" people into "mental patients." Alarmingly, in DSM-5, normal grief will become "Major Depressive Disorder"; the forgetting seen in old age is "Mild Neurocognitive Disorder"; temper tantrums are "Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder"; worrying about a medical illness is "Somatic Symptom Disorder"; gluttony is "Binge Eating Disorder"; and most of us will qualify for adult "Attention Deficit Disorder." What's more, all of these newly invented conditions will worsen the cruel paradox of the mental health industry: those who desperately need psychiatric help are left shamefully neglected, while the "worried well" are given the bulk of the treatment, often at their own detriment. Masterfully charting the history of psychiatric fads throughout history, Frances argues that whenever we arbitrarily label another aspect of the human condition a "disease," we further chip away at our human adaptability and diversity, dulling the full palette of what is normal and losing something fundamental of ourselves in the process. Saving Normal is a call to all of us to reclaim the full measure of our humanity.

Redefining Normal

Author: Alexis Black
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781734573145
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Book Description
Growing up, they didn't believe they had a future. Together, they are building forever. Alexis Black persevered through her mother's death and her father's imprisonment. And after escaping a long and abusive relationship, the college junior promised her foster parents not to date for at least a year. But when she meets an incoming freshman on the first day of their scholarship program, she feels the world melt away, as though it were only the two of them in the room. Justin Black lived in the poorest section of Detroit before his parents surrendered him to the foster care system at the age of nine. But when he grabs the chance for better opportunities by pursuing higher education, he can't help but be drawn to a beautiful third-year student. At first, their past traumas--and their age difference--conspired to complicate their attraction. But the joy each took in the other and eventually conquered those obstacles, and these two survivors journeyed together toward healing. In a stark and wholehearted true story that shares how two individuals on separate paths found each other, Alexis and Justin merge their course into one full of hope and purpose. And hand-in-hand, with a desire to help others, they learned to reject the abusive patterns of their past, thereby intentionally breaking the cycle of generational violence and unhealthy behaviors. Written in an engaging novelistic style, the authors put forward a thoughtful exchange of ideas and personal experiences illustrating how anybody, no matter their backgrounds, can have a life of self-empowerment and joy. Broken down into four sections that cover crucial topics such as "Worthiness" and "Mental Health," this compelling narrative will help any who are learning to love themselves and want to end the line of toxic relationships. Redefining Normal: How Two Foster Kids Beat The Odds and Discovered Healing, Happiness, and Love is a page-turning memoir that will open your eyes to possibilities and dreams. If you like honest tales of triumph, refreshing transparency, and resilient faith in God, then you'll adore Justin and Alexis' inspirational story. This story contains mentions of domestic violence, trauma, sexual assault, and other difficult issues faced on the road to healing. Buy Redefining Normal to claim victory over harmful pasts today!

"Maintaining a Normal Life"

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cancer
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Book Description

The Daily Battle for a Normal Life

Author: Lorette Gay
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1644249243
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 423

Book Description
Olivia was a townswoman of Haiti whose life has been persecuted in all aspects. She talked about how in her childhood, she has become a friend of nature, which has impacted her life and abetted her throughout the diversity of many encumbrances. Through nature, she has learned what life is about, and nature has helped her overcome utmost the madness she has encountered along her pathway. She believes that the cycle change in the nature is likened to the cycle change in people's lives. Abandoned by her father while she was only an embryo, a father that had never come across her way, isolated from her mother at the age of six, she was left to be raised by her grandparents. Her existence is marked by many junctures. At an early age, she already knew what sexual harassment is about. She boarded many strangers' houses. In her teenage years, she traveled virtually the entire country from north, south, and central and has seen things that normal teens haven't seen and probably won't ever see in their existence. In her thirties, her husband left her in Haiti with two of her children, after the chaotic presidential overthrow of 1986. Fearing retaliation by an uprising populace, her husband was the first to emigrate in USA because as an act of reprisal toward anyone that had worked for the regime, no matter what your job was, thugs in the streets terrorized everyone (you can be here today and dead tomorrow). In 1987, after passing a long time into hell, in a country still under revolution, she and her children fled to New York. Then ten months after, she moved to Miami with her family, where she made it home in the United States, her adopted country. In 1992, while her life started to recover, her new home was hit by the most violent cyclone, Hurricane Andrew, which had destroyed everything she had amassed. A few years later, her husband left her again to go back to his native land, to stay. This is to ask if everyone that she loves will always find a way to pass as an absentee in her life. Over the following years, many chronic diseases have attacked her body, and from there the fun started, the fun game to stay alive. No one would imagine of what she's going through. She always looks happy, but under the veil of her happiness was hiding all sort of life complications that you would never thought could happen to one person. Her conviction is that she should not complain about herself. In this world we're living in, each of us carries secret onuses. By experience, she realized that people have a habit of comparing our burdens with the other people's. It isn't a fair tactic to support a friend or a family member in despair by associating his or her problem with another. Life is an impartial place for all of us. Don't presume that some problems are less than others. You exactly detain what you can bear oneself and what was predestined to fit only you.

A New Normal: Life after COVID-19

Author: Rachael L. Thomas
Publisher: ABDO
ISBN: 1098213688
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 35

Book Description
This title examines how life is different after COVID-19 such as lowered CO2 emissions, elbow bumping instead of handshakes, telemedicine, online shopping, voting by mail, and a global virus research database. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.