Social Construction of Alzheimer's

Do You Remember Me?
Free Press / Simon & Schuster, NY 2004
ISBN 074322230X

Judith Levine weaves social commentary and personal experience in elegant prose that kept me up late nights. An experienced journalist, Levine highlights the important and intriguing bits from the current literature of Alzheimer's Disease—scientific, personal, medical, political and practical. Her red-diaper heritage and feminist sensibility result in a searching inquiry. She reveals the economic imperatives driving the social construction of a disease entity that doesn't exist in some cultures. A refreshing counterweight to the "how I bravely bore the burden of caretaking" narratives, Levine has many reasons to loathe her father, but most of them evaporate as she learns to appreciate the "core personality" that remains when dementia strips away the substance of his interactions. Powerful and useful examination of the "should we put Dad in a nursing home?" struggle that millions of families face.

Disability Angle & Bonus Points The single best text I've seen on why age-related impairment belongs on the disability-rights radar, and disability issues belongs on the senior-rights agenda.

Relevant quotations beneath ( the cut )

Weather Weary and Wise

Wisconsin's hard winters make for closer friendships, forged in ice. In my well-spent youth, I loved to walk on the lakes and railroad tracks on the very coldest days. I could make my own warmth from the inside out, and savor the natural world through the hoarfrost lens.

As I've slowed down, winter has become less of a challenge and more of a prison. It took a decade to get the lightbox time just right to balance the depredations of less daylight. Now that I care to go out, getting out is no longer simple.

The powerchair battery performance plummets to less than three miles when the temperature dips anywhere below 20° F. When there's more than 3 inches of snow, the chair simply can't proceed. When even one person on the block hasn't shoveled their sidewalk -- or even worse, when they've cleared a path only one shovel wide -- I must choose between veering into the street or turning around and retracing my tracks in defeat.

Though I've certainly acquired, and pile on, enough layers to choke a dinosaur, not even knee-high Sorels & my swashbuckling leather cape can keep me warm when I'm sitting still outside. I was twisted enough to actually enjoy nose-freeze and eyelash-crunching temperatures like -15°F, but those days are past. (Fun fact: at -15°F, you can throw a cup of boiling water into the air and it freezes before it hits the ground.)

One thing keeps me from going completely bat-shit: paratransit. Thanks to the scores of disabled Madisonians who made it happen even before the ADA mandated it, people who can't use the fixed route bus (that's me when there's snow) can schedule door-to-door rides for just twice the bus fare. Yes, I have to plan a day in advance, which I'm lousy at. Yes, every trip takes at least an extra hour because it's a shared-ride service.

Yes, some of the drivers are annoying mumblers who play Rush Limbaugh (and worse) at top volume. But then there's busman1994, who just dropped me off after the world's dullest meeting. This is why I love Madison! Not only does paratransit enable me to ply the wide world even in this snowiest of winters, it even has some drivers WAOLJ!