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Last night, America fell in love with 13-year-old Brayden Harrington, who talked about bonding with Joe Biden over their shared experience of #stuttering. In the coming months, you& #39;re likely to hear a lot about people who #stutter. I& #39;d like you to hear from us directly. (1/15)
Start with @JohnGHendy& #39;s article in @TheAtlantic about Biden& #39;s stutter and his own. It& #39;s a meditation on vulnerability and denial, and the stories we tell to polish our imperfect edges. http://tinyurl.com/bidenhendy ">https://tinyurl.com/bidenhend... (2/15)
In 2019 @DarceySteinke wrote a powerful @nytimes essay on how her stutter makes her a better writer. "Stuttering is a violent incantation that can break open normal conversation. What happens in that breach is up to the stutterer and her listener." https://nyti.ms/2Eno5i6 ">https://nyti.ms/2Eno5i6&q... (3/15)
When I read @theygotemma, it makes my brain pop. Like her @VICE article about pushing back against the scrutiny women& #39;s voices receive (think vocal fry)—and demanding patience and respect instead. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/paeywn/stutter-more-with-feeling.">https://www.vice.com/en_us/art... (4/15)
Please read everything @ijbailey writes, and listen to everything he says. Start with the raw and room-silencing address he gave before the @niemanfdn: https://nieman.harvard.edu/sites/80th-anniversary-reunion-weekend/transcript-issac-bailey/.">https://nieman.harvard.edu/sites/80t... Then read his book "My Brother Moochie." (5/15)
I wrote this essay for @thebafflermag about how stuttering has usually been viewed through a narrow medical lens. "Some of us, though, have been trying to flip the paradigm, to reframe stuttering as a trait that confers transformative powers." https://thebaffler.com/salvos/stammer-time-yeoman">https://thebaffler.com/salvos/st... (6/15)
I wept when I first read "Honest Speech," a poem by Erin Schick ( @Berniewatson). I won& #39;t say more, lest I blunt its power. Read or, better yet, listen here: https://voicemailpoems.org/2019/08/22/honest-speech/.">https://voicemailpoems.org/2019/08/2... (7/15)
"Honest Speech" kicks off an anthology called Stammering Pride and Prejudice (edited by @Patrick1992C et al.). The book is a treasure, with provocative and liberating ways to rethink stuttering. U.S. residents can order a copy from https://www.stutteringtherapyresources.com/products/stammering-pride-prejudice.">https://www.stutteringtherapyresources.com/products/... (8/15)
A number of powerful documentaries have been made by people who stutter. I recommend Jeff Shames& #39; deeply personal "Spit It Out," which also addresses addiction and family dysfunction. Stream it for $5 at @newdayfilms. (Use coupon code SIO14DAY.)
https://www.newday.com/film/spit-it-out">https://www.newday.com/film/spit... (9/15)
https://www.newday.com/film/spit-it-out">https://www.newday.com/film/spit... (9/15)
I also recommend Michael Turner& #39;s documentary "The Way We Talk," which is both a generational story and the chronicle of a journey toward healing. Stream it for $3.99 at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thewaywetalk.">https://vimeo.com/ondemand/... (10/15)
I& #39;ve described @ninagcomedian& #39;s memoir, "Stutterer, Interrupted," as "deliciously profane and skin-wide-open self-revealing." Back when the elementary-school bullies taunted me, I wish I could have pulled Nina out of a hat. https://www.stuttererinterrupted.com/book ">https://www.stuttererinterrupted.com/book"... (11/15)
Actor @JacquelynJoyce covers a lot of ground on her YouTube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/user/JacquelynJoyce).">https://www.youtube.com/user/Jacq... When she addresses stuttering, she looks you in the eye and speaks TRUTH. Check out her episode on stuttering during a pandemic. https://youtu.be/13ria5-fzK4 ">https://youtu.be/13ria5-fz... (12/15)
Marty Jezer, who died in 2005, was an antiwar activist and Abbie Hoffman& #39;s biographer. He was smart and kind and loved to upend gender propriety by knitting on the NYC subway. His 1997 book "Stuttering: A Life Bound Up In Words" was pioneering. Find it if you can. (13/15)
I& #39;ll end with the work of @JeromeEllis, whom you might have heard about on @ThisAmerLife. First, this video visually represents his 2020 @poetry__project performance on the tyranny of time: https://www.poetryproject.org/publications/house-party/house-party-5/transcripted-jerome-ellis.">https://www.poetryproject.org/publicati... (14/15)
Also from @JeromeEllis, two prayers to his stutter. They seem a fitting a way to end this thread. From @theoffingmag: https://theoffingmag.com/micro/prayers-to-my-stutter-1-and-3/">https://theoffingmag.com/micro/pra... (15/15)
One more! @KPrestonwriter& #39;s book "Out with It: How Stuttering Helped Me Find My Voice," which started as a journalistic road trip and ended up considerably more personal. https://bookshop.org/books/out-with-it-how-stuttering-helped-me-find-my-voice/9781451676594">https://bookshop.org/books/out... (16/15; there goes my numbering system)
Y& #39;all, my feeds and inboxes are filling up and I am grateful for the responses. So I will keep adding links through the day or longer. (17/15)
First, as @alnellus noted, @david_mitchell& #39;s Black Swan Green is a masterpiece and features a stuttering protagonist the same age as Brayden Harrison: https://nyti.ms/2FOgHxb .">https://nyti.ms/2FOgHxb&q... Also, David& #39;s speech at the 2013 World Congress of People who Stutter: https://youtu.be/IJM0eqfq5fE .">https://youtu.be/IJM0eqfq5... (18/15)
Spring Kwok describes the moment of stuttering out in the world: "I know it’s O.K. because it’s the same laugh time and time again. It is not malicious; it’s nervous and awkward and reminds me of a horrible first date." https://narratively.com/talk-stutter-steal-voice/">https://narratively.com/talk-stut... (19/15)
. @nathanheller on The King& #39;s Speech: "At its most influential, language is so little dependent on spontaneous speech that even someone permanently stymied on that front—a stutterer—can eke out a message that commands a nation." https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/02/the-king-s-speech-raises-more-questions-about-stuttering-than-it-answers.html">https://slate.com/news-and-... H/T @jodyrosen (20/15)
This Ted Talk by artist @safwat Saleem, about challenging the notion of normal, is funny and visually beautiful and poignant. And it features a talking sheep. https://www.ted.com/talks/safwat_saleem_why_i_keep_speaking_up_even_when_people_mock_my_accent">https://www.ted.com/talks/saf... H/T @latifnasser (21/15)
This short film based on the poetry of Canada& #39;s Jordan Scott: https://vimeo.com/7384677 .">https://vimeo.com/7384677&q... Excuse me; I am a bit of a mess after watching it. H/T @mdanielmartin (22/15)
