I thought it was interesting that Anna wrote that Ken's dementia wasn't "natural." I was wondering if that was intentional, becasue I consider diseases natural. 

"But Western feminism is also caught up in its ambivalence: fighting for inclusion, it installs exclusions; advocating change, it resists change; laying claims to movement, it resists moving" (Nnaemeka 363).

This idea seems very related to globalization--the practice of creating global connection, and as a result, sameness, modeled after the West's example. Yet African and Middle Eastern feminisms existed long before globalization took effect. This really highlights for me the necessity of using a variety of frameworks by which to look at Persepolis and Americanah--and most importantly, that the frameworks belonging to their respective cultures be used as primary lenses for the texts. Which leads into my next thought:

Anna Strosser's memoir served as a reminder that even with the devastating loss of watching someone go through dementia, there is beauty that remains and changes both in the individual and in the individual's relationships. I was most affected by Ken's short letter included at the end of the piece, which allowed the memoir to end on a fairly settling note--with the subjective experience of the individual living with dementia, from whom we are so rarely able to hear. Ken expresses his values, what he is grateful for, and what matters for him on a daily basis. We are offered a window into his frustrations (the repetition of the baseball games, and the missing puzzle pieces), but we also get to see Ken put things in perspective.

Anna Strosser's memoir relates a complicated, and sometimes tragic story. Throughout her piece, one thing becomes clearer to me than anything else and that is that it is impossible to separate out different parts of your life or individualize different family members completely. Certainly, we all have different parts of our lives (professional, personal, academic, etc) and each person is an individual. But Anna reminds me that we are all connected, and that our life experiences are all connected. We cannot simply see Ken in his older years, living with dementia. We see him in his relationships to the family and others, we see Anna in her relationships to others and how those relationships become part of the experience of physical and mental health.

I found this passage to be particularly intriguing and telling of the intuitive way Anna relates to Ken, "He’s not to blame. It doesn’t work to lay the responsibility on him. He gets upsetand feels bad for a while, but doesn’t remember why. The emotion lasts but the precipitating memory of the cause is gone" (72).

I wonder how her role as a caretaker shifted when Ken's memories faded, but the connection he felt to her remained.

How does one shift the way she communicates with someone she cares deeply about when raw emotion is always at the forefront of their mind?

I imagine that writing this memoir has been a way to remember for both Anna and Ken, and to carry the past into the present. I wonder if their children have felt a similar need to do this.

There are two items within the memoir that intrigue me in particular.  The first is the powerful presence of Anna’s sense of place as an organizing principle of her life.  The structure of the memoir is in fact organized around each place of residence, so much so that each move is the narrative creator or at least Keeper of memories and Measure of Life.  The second is reading this in the context of my own Dad’s memoir, which I am first reading at this time.  My dad (with the same day of marriage!) wrote his memoir with dementia in control and it is fascinating to see the story from the other side.

I found this article about disabled women and Feminism I found it interesting. It talks about how women with disabilities feel left out of the feminist agenda.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/24/yesallwomen-but-not-really-how-feminism-leaves-the-disabled-behind.html

Do you find yourself differentiating between moments where you feel you are just his caregiver or his wife or do you see caregiving as a part of being his wife?

How do you cope with anger since Ken holds on to his emotions long after they have passed? 

Donna Caires

Final Post Adult and Aging 11/30/14