Nobody Told Me the Deck Was Stacked Against Me
I contracted polio at the age of one in Jerusalem so as a result, I have always moved on arm power alone — with crutches and braces, a hand-cycle or wheelchair, through pools, up mountain trails in Nepal, through a marathon course in Hawaii and across the finish line of an IronMan in Korea. Three […]
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Lady Gaga on Crutches
In her multi-faceted performances, a collage of opera, rock concert, spin class, fashion and photo shoot, Lady Gaga pushes boundaries and forces audiences to think differently. She is also famously active and supportive of marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ community. In her recent appearances at Coachella Festival, California and Copacabana Beach, Brazil, while singing, […]
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Raising the Bar
As a boy learning to ambulate with leg braces and crutches due to polio, I was at the mercy of my parents and a society that would shape my attitude toward my disability. At the time, the American public took a paternalistic view of people with disabilities (PWDs), manifesting in some programs and schools where […]
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The Whale
Bravo to Brendan Fraser and all the cast of the monumental film, The Whale. When the distant daughter challenges The Whale to walk without his assistive device, it made me feel how glaringly inadequate humans are at times made to feel when unable to measure up. Obesity, disability, sexuality — you name it and every […]
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Another Epidemic
The Coronavirus is my second first-hand experience with an epidemic. As a baby in Jerusalem, Polio ran rampant and paralyzed people and a nation with fear. My brother and I both contracted the disease. Two years my senior and having had the full series of vaccines, Chip’s system was able to fight off the virus. […]
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Sharks and Shadows
Fish are social creatures. They mass together as a single group so as to look larger than they are individually, protecting themselves from predators. They move as a single unit, streaming around each other in unison like one giant organism. When feeding sharks are on the hunt, the army of smaller fish open and close […]
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Burning Man 2018
Observers from the ‘default’ world often brand Burning Man as a dusty week in the desert driven by sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, which is like proclaiming that an elephant is a heavy animal. BM is a contemporary quest complete with challenges, victories, sirens and the occasional Golden Fleece. Call me a prude but […]
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