I really have respect for Nancy Mairs. This woman, pardon my French, has gohones. In this essay, she paints a real portrait of who she is now, living with a debilitating disease. With painful, embarrassing truth and comedic relief, she unblinkingly tells it like it is. I think the introduction to this essay is particularly poignant because Mairs begins the essay with an antedote about falling in a public restroom. Along with this, there are certain other detail that make the essay seem really honest.
I love the line, "One may also lose one's sense of humor. That's the easiest to lose and the hardest to survive without" (91). She uses other powerful techniques such as when she makes an interesting list of what/who she "is." Along with being a writing teacher and a "superb, if messy, cook," she also can "do italic writing and, in an emergency, bathe an oil-soaked cat." These details are effective because they give us a good idea about the kind of person this woman is--about what is important to her. It's really a fantastic essay. If you haven't read it yet, you should.
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