Jennie Spotila suggests it ‘s time to stop the harassment
Got your attention? Jennie Spotila’s recent blog “Laura Hillenbrand is Not Your Bitch” certainly got mine. Quite a few people were upset that chronic fatigue syndrome was not referred to in a recent TV interview. Some people want to Laura to advocate for ME/CFS more. Some people view the film Unbroken as something as a massive and thus far missed opportunity to get the word out about ME/CFS. Some people are casting stones. They’re getting into the blame game. It’s getting a bit rough out there.
Find out what happened during the TV interview and check out why Jennie thinks some ME/CFS patients are off-base in Laura Hillenbrand is Not Your Bitch*.
Thanks for the shout out, Cort. The post has sparked some good conversation on the blog, on Facebook, and private messaging.
Glad to hear it. 🙂
I haven’t seen the TV interview yet. But if they edited out a lot of what Laura Hillenbrand said, and if they made sure that no actual name was given to her illness — then THEY are the problem. Clearly not Laura (but I think that was already obvious.)
The thing to do is send an e-mail or, better yet, snail mail, and very politely but firmly tell the TV folks that you would like to hear more specifics about Laura’s illness.
Keep this in mind, too: The story in The New York Times was the most e-mailed story on one particular day. And earlier today, it was still at #4 on the list of “most e-mailed.”
Some of that may be the movie. Some of it has to be Laura’s wonderful writing. But it seems likely that many, many people can relate to the idea of a “mystery illness” — many more than the TV folks would have expected.
Tell them you want them to do a segment about CFS/ME. Two segments, actually. One about individual experiences; the other about all the theories or lack of theories within the research community.
Good idea Years of Misery! and yes, if we’d really thought about it we would have realized it had to be the network.
I’ll second that.
Laura Hillenbrand is an inspiring writer who has already given the world 2 amazing books. Knowing she has ME I cannot imagine how she has done so much already, and she is not done yet.
I watched the interview and she looked and sounded great. People are really interested in her work, not her illness.
Someone said “I have an illness, I am not defined by it”.
I don’t know what was edited out, but the interview was really congratulatory which was appropriate. It would have been demeaning if the interviewer had pried into the details of her personal life.
Laura Hillenbrand’s work stands as a shining example of courage and fortitude in the face of her illness. We are fortunate to have someone like her among us. Let us take a bit of inspiration and not be so self centered and petty. She owes us nothing.
Every interview I saw with Laura Hillenbrand not only mentioned the illness but gave some info and referred to the magazine article that got the purple heart sent to her because he felt she deserved it more than he. Maybe more people should watch Fox shows and interviews.