DeepSummary
In this episode, Chloe Cooper Jones discusses her memoir 'Easy Beauty' with the host Max Linsky. She talks about her experience as a disabled person and how she used to hide her disability from others in an attempt to be recognized for who she was beyond her physical appearance. Writing the book helped her come to terms with her disability and embrace her whole self.
Cooper Jones explains the concept of the 'neutral room', a mental space she would retreat to in order to cope with pain or uncomfortable social situations related to her disability. However, she realized this was also a form of avoidance and self-erasure. The book chronicles her journey of seeking beauty and shifting her perspective through experiences like art, nature, and sports.
The conversation also touches on Cooper Jones' writing process, the role of empathy in her work, and an ambitious reporting project she is currently working on related to medical ethics and disability rights. She emphasizes the importance of giving people the grace of multiple thoughts instead of reducing them to a single impression.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Cooper Jones is working on an ambitious reporting project related to medical ethics and disability rights.
- The conversation highlights the universal themes explored in Cooper Jones' memoir through her specific experiences as a disabled person.
- Chloe Cooper Jones' memoir 'Easy Beauty' chronicles her journey of self-acceptance as a disabled person.
- Cooper Jones used to actively hide her disability from others in an attempt to be recognized for who she was beyond her physical appearance.
- Writing the book helped Cooper Jones embrace her whole self and shift her perspective through seeking out experiences of beauty.
- The concept of the 'neutral room' served as a coping mechanism but also a form of avoidance and self-erasure for Cooper Jones.
- Cooper Jones emphasizes the importance of empathy and understanding others' perspectives, even when they conflict with her own experiences.
- The interview touches on Cooper Jones' writing process, drawing inspiration from various sources to grapple with her internal struggles.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “I literally didn't talk to anyone in my life about disability until I was, like, 30, ever. Not my husband, not my friends, you know, as little as possible to my own mother.“ by Chloe Cooper Jones
- “I wrote in these journals, and, and I also thought a lot about the theorists that I had read over the course of my life and the philosophers that I had read and the poets that I'd read, and I, you know, I think I was just sending my mind out and trying to see what it could reach for to try to help me process this problem that I knew I needed to fix in some way in myself.“ by Chloe Cooper Jones
- “I want everyone to feel like this book is for them and that I'm talking to them. I'm speaking from my very specific experience about a thing I think is really relatable.“ by Chloe Cooper Jones
- “I don't want anybody who reads my work to be like, oh, she's speaking at me, or from the distance of an activist who's got it all figured out, or something like that. I hope so.“ by Chloe Cooper Jones
- “Every single time I talked to somebody, I really needed to give them my critical empathy, right where it's not like I'm just believing everything they say or not pushing back or asking serious questions, but I needed to believe that they had a point of view and that I needed to understand that point of view as honestly and seriously as possible, even if that point of view really is hurtful for me as a disabled woman, to think about.“ by Chloe Cooper Jones
Entities
Person
Product
Book
Episode Information
Longform
Longform
12/28/22