Posted on

The Glass People: The Materials of Madness, from the Glass King to the Simulation

More than six hundred years ago, the King of France stopped letting anyone touch him. Charles VI had iron rods sewn into his clothing and moved through his palace with the stiff care of a man carrying something breakable, because he believed he was carrying something breakable. He believed it was himself. The chronicles of his reign record that the king became convinced his body had turned to glass, and that a careless embrace or an ordinary stumble would shatter him to pieces on the stone floor.

Continue reading → The Glass People: The Materials of Madness, from the Glass King to the Simulation

Posted on

Osteogenesis Imperfecta Limping Across the Campus Green

Osteogenesis Imperfecta is the medical term for “brittle bone” disease — and every class I teach begins with a story of a former student of mine who was always on time for my classes — and who never once complained about the deformation in her legs and her arms and her spine that caused her to walk, stooped, over two wooden canes as she shuffled her way across campus with a massive backpack of books strapped to her tiny torso.

Continue reading → Osteogenesis Imperfecta Limping Across the Campus Green