Barbara Ehrenreich RIP

Cafe Society
1

I was so sad to learn this. Barbara Ehrenreich has died.

She’s probably best known for her book Nickel and Dimed, but personally, I much preferred her Brightsided. It was a devastating look at toxic positivity, or the pressure that society puts on people to be happy all the time. It includes her battle with breast cancer, and how the demand that the patient stay positive at all times is actually harmful. A very necessary read for me, as a depressed person concerned about my right to feel bad if I want to.

Another author I loved who will never bring me something new.

2

I was sad to hear it. I’ve been reading her since For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts Advice to Women.

3

Damn. Somebody else who we needed, gone.

4

The one I was moved by was For Her Own Good.

She used to teach at my undergrad alma mater, SUNY @ Old Westbury.

5

Don’t think I’ve read any of her books (I refuse to read “Nickel and Dimed” because I’ve lived it) but I saw her interviewed many times, and she was always witty and sensible.

Her essay “Welcome to Cancerland” is long and a bit dated, but also worth reading. TL : DR - she’s a breast cancer survivor, and found the “Breast Cancer Bear” to be just about the most demeaning thing she’d ever seen.

6

A nice write-up by Dierdre English.