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DESCRIPTION:Event Name: S. L. Wisenberg:  book signing and discussion\nEven
 t Url: http://www.artshound.com/event/detail/33427/S_L_Wisenberg_book_sign
 ing_and_discussion\nEvent Date Begin: 2009-11-11\nEvent Date End: 2009-11-
 11\n\nBrazos Bookstore is pleased to present S. L. Wisenberg\, who signs a
 nd discusses her book\, The Adventures of Cancer Bitch.\nCancer is S. L. W
 isenberg's muse\, and Cancer Bitch is her blog. Drawing on a wealth of per
 sonal\, literary\, and historical sources&mdash\;from Jewish liturgy to th
 e first crude mastectomies\, from Anne Frank to Emma Goldman&mdash\;The Ad
 ventures of Cancer Bitch creates an indelible image of a politically engag
 ed\, self-aware (sometimes neurotic) woman facing a daunting disease with 
 equal measures of humor\, well-founded fear\, and keen intelligence.\nWise
 nberg may have lost a breast\, but she retained her humor\, outrage\, and 
 skepticism toward common wisdom and most institutions. While following the
  prescribed protocols at the place she called Fancy Hospital\, Wisenberg i
 s unsparing in her descriptions of the fumblings of new doctors\, her own 
 awkward announcement to her students\, and the mounds of unrecyclable plas
 tic left at a survivors' walk. Combining the personal with the political\,
  she shares her research on the money spent on pink ribbons instead of pre
 venting pollution and the disparity in medical care between the insured an
 d the uninsured. When chemotherapy made her bald\, she decorated her head 
 with henna swirls in front and an antiwar protest in back. During treatmen
 t\, she also recorded the dailiness of life in Chicago as she rode the El\
 , taught while one-breasted\, and attended High Holiday services and a Pas
 sover seder.\nWisenberg's writing has been compared to a mix of Leon Wiese
 ltier and Fran Lebowitz\, and in this book she has Wieseltier's erudition 
 and Lebowitz's self-deprecating cleverness: &ldquo\;If anybody ever offers
  you the choice between suffering and depression\, take the suffering. And
  I don't mean physical suffering. I mean emotional suffering. I am hereby 
 endorsing psychic suffering over depression.&rdquo\;\nFrom The Adventures 
 of Cancer Bitch:\nI found that when you invite people to a pre-mastectomy 
 party\, they show up. Even those with small children. The kids were so you
 ng that they didn't notice that most of the food had nipples. . . . I talk
 ed to everyone&mdash\;about what I'm not sure. Probably about my surgery. 
 Everyone told me how well I looked. I felt giddy. I was going to go under\
 , but not yet\; I was going to be cut\, but not yet\; I was going to be ba
 ld\, but not yet. As my friend who had bladder cancer says: The thing abou
 t cancer is you feel great until they start treating you for it.\n'The Adv
 entures of Cancer Bitch is witty and relentless\, surprising and honest...
 this is a cornucopia of breast cancer information as well as a very smart\
 , funny read from an excellent writer.'&mdash\;Audrey Niffenegger\, author
 \, The Time Traveler's Wife\nS. L. Wisenberg grew up in Houston and helped
  edit the Three Penny Press at Bellaire High School. She is the author of 
 a short story collection\, The Sweetheart Is In\; a personal essay collect
 ion about Jewish identity\, Holocaust Girls: History\, Memory & Other Obse
 ssions\; and The Adventures of Cancer Bitch\, based on her award-winning b
 log. She has received grants and fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Cente
 r in Provincetown\, the Illinois Arts Council and the National Endowment f
 or the Humanities. Her work is widely published and anthologized\, most re
 cently in Creating Nonfiction: a Guide and AnthologyCrafting the Very Shor
 t Story: an Anthology of 100 Masterpieces. She has degrees from the Medill
  School of Journalism at Northwestern University and the Iowa Writers' Wor
 kshop. She is the co-director of the MA/MFA in Creative Writing program at
  Northwestern.\n\nStart time: 6:30pm
DTSTART:20091111T000000
DTEND:20091111T000000
LOCATION:
SUMMARY:S. L. Wisenberg:  book signing and discussion
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