Chronic Youth

Front matter

‘'2 A AA d s

J idly LM

JULIE PASSANANTE ELMAN

Index

About the Author

131 167 177 205 231

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The journey to this book has been a long and labyrinthine one: a life in four cities at four different institutions on two continents, a few very stressful years on the academic job market, and new additions to our family. My journey began as a graduate student in American studies at George Washington University, an intellectual community in the truest sense: a vibrant place where faculty and students work with integrity and generosity to enrich one another’s lives and scholarly pursuits. The department provided me with instruction, travel grants, funding, and a dissertation completion fellowship. Thanks to Katie Brian, Chad Heap, Dave Kieran, Jeremy Hill, Cameron Logan, Jim Miller, and especially to mababy Ramzi Fawaz, one of the most amazing colleagues I’ve ever known. I also thank the GWU faculty/graduate student disability studies reading group and my dissertation committee, Kip Kosek, Todd Ramlow, Gayle Wald, and Abby Wilkerson, for their trenchant questions. Melani McAlister’s unflagging support and rigorous feedback made my work better, and I treasure her friendship, sense of humor, and yoga allegories. Robert McRuer is one of the smartest and most generous human beings I’ve ever encountered; his unwavering faith in me bolstered me in many moments of self-doubt. The spirit of this community remains with me and sustains me.

My time in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis (SCA) at New York University reshaped the contours of my work. My colleagues’ deep commitment to political activism and social justice enriched this manuscript. There I had the privilege of developing the university’s first-ever undergraduate disability studies course, and I thank my many wonderful students for their insight and energy. I am grateful for the conversations, feedback, professional mentoring, and especially the moral support I received as I worked on this book while balancing the intense labor of job applications. Andrew Ross prodded me when I needed prodding, and I am thrilled to release this book as part of the Social and Cultural Analysis series. My faculty writing group, Toral Gajarawala, Maggie Gray, Krishnendu Ray, and Thuy Linh Tu, as well as Lisa Duggan, Lezlie Frye, Gayatri Gopinath, Jennifer Morgan, Crystal Parikh, Josie Saldaña, Rayna Rapp, and Nikhil Pal Singh, offered invaluable feedback as I revised. I learned much about institution building and collegiality from Faye Ginsburg in our work on the NYU Council for the Study of Disability. I especially thank Crystal Parikh for her laughter and friendship; Anne

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Rademacher for her consoling cooking; Thuy Linh Tu for her incomparable sense of humor and compassion; and Nikhil Singh, who took me under his wing as mentor and friend during some of my toughest moments. When I felt mired or afraid, you all reminded me, often over a nice glass of scotch, that my work was valuable and necessary. Finally, I treasure Emily Martin, not only for enhancing my work but also for continually showing me what type of scholar and person Td like to be. I hope each of you sees your contributions in the pages that follow, because you’ve changed my work for the better.

I am very grateful to New York University Press, especially Eric Zinner and Alicia Nadkarni, for their commitment to publishing disability studies work and for the energy and creativity they brought to this project. I am indebted to the two anonymous New York University Press reviewers for their intellectual rigor and generosity. Portions of this book appeared previously in Television and New Media and the Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, and I thank them for their permission to reprint this material as well as their anonymous journal reviewers, whose feedback enriched my revisions. Thanks to Michael Crawford for the permission to reprint his cartoon and to Riva Lehrer for allowing her incredible artwork to appear on the cover. I am grateful to the archivists at the Paley Center for New Media and also to Martin Tahse for taking the time for two interviews about the After School Specials. Allison Perlman and Elana Levine also read an early version of the second chapter and were valuable interlocutors. Other colleagues and friends enriched my thinking, including Cynthia Barounis, Michael Bérubé, Eli Clare, Petra Kuppers, David Mitchell, Alondra Nelson, and Sharon Snyder. I had many opportunities to work through the concepts in this book at conferences and invited lectures, and I thank the audiences, respondents, and fellow panelists for their productive questions and critiques.

Prior to joining the University of Missouri, I spent a brief time at University College Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, and I benefitted much from conversations with my colleagues and students. I am honored to be part of Mizzou’s Women’s and Gender Studies Department, a dazzling community of supportive and passionate women scholars. Teaching relief in my first year as well as generous research and travel support were vital to the completion of this book. My colleagues here in Missouri have enriched my work and my life. I am thankful to Shelda Eggers, Elisa Glick, Joan Hermsen, Mary Jo Neitz, Srirupa Prasad, Enid Schatz, and especially my intrepid faculty mentors and friends, Rebecca Dingo and Linda Reeder, who have offered me solid advice, feedback, intellectual comradeship, and delectable food! I look forward to my future in this community as it continues to flourish.

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My wonderful George Washington University writing group has provided round-the-clock intellectual and emotional support over the years. Kyle Riismandel helped make the book’s historical arguments more sophisticated and staved off despair with his unrivaled hilarity. Laurel Clark Shire always saw the big picture of my work and soothed me with her insight and baking prowess. There are few readers with Laura Cook Kenna’ attention to detail, and I thank her for always reminding me that “it doesn’t need to be redeemed; it just needs to be revised” Finally, I thank Stephanie Ricker Schulte, a rare and brilliant treasure, for her diligence in pruning my ten-line sentences (though a few may remain, not for lack of trying), for always telling me the truth, for dancing with me on the peaks, and for easing the pain of the valleys. I am ever brimming with awe and gratitude for all of you, my chosen family. Long live The Trust.

This book would not have been possible without the support of my loved ones in Washington, DC, New York, and Missouri. Thanks especially to my friends Javier Cortes, Jeremy Hill, Nancy Goldman, Nate Goldman, Gary Husslein, Judy Husslein, Mary Stilwell, and Glenn Rice. For hours of song-filled decompression, I thank my many beloved musician friends, Shannon Canfield, Tracy Greever-Rice, Erica and Jamie Kroll, and finally, Kevin Strait and David Goldman, the big brothers I always wished for and now have. Thank you to my fantastic extended family, especially Michael J. G. Cain, Jim Cain, Tom and Joan Cain, Missy Doebley, Elizabeth Elman, Larry and Cheryl Elman, RoRo and Rick Johannson, Jonathan Laurans, Chris and Doug Shaffer, and Carrie Manzo, who always asked when “that friggedy book” would be done. My late grandparents, Joseph and Ann Passanante and Frances Cain, showed me the value of hard work and family. None of this would have been possible without my parents, Kathleen and Dennis, who shower me with unconditional love, support, and enthusiasm, and my incredible sister, Amanda Passanante, my first and always best friend. Thank you to my baby boy, Everett, for filling my mornings with smiles and for napping well so I could finish this book. Being a Mama to you has already been an amazing journey. Finally, to Dave, my best friend and lover, I love you more than I could ever say for making me laugh like no other; for holding me in my darkest places; for moving around the world and back again chasing after my dreams; for being an incredible father to our boy; for building Fretboard Coffee with passion and integrity; and of course, for making music with me along the way. Getting to spend the past, present, and future with you and our son is the greatest gift I will ever receive.