Content Warning: This episode discusses death, cancer, anorexia, hospitalization, and grief.
University of Texas professor and author Mallary Tenore Tarpley’s mom died of breast cancer when Mallary was just eleven years old. Mallary’s health class taught her that our bodies are affected by what we eat so Mallary decided to simply stop eating. That way, went her reasoning, she would stay small, preserved the way she was before her mom died. Her anorexia resulted in years of treatments and hospitalizations, and while there was recovery there were also slips and setbacks. Eventually, through the work she had done in the journalism field, Mallary came to believe that our society needs to see these moments as part of healing and not as signs of failure. Also, that we need to pay attention not just to an illness’s onset or some elusive notion of a completed recovery but to the middle section of getting better. If we understand that messy middle, we can forgive ourselves and others and have better health. This is a moving and heartfelt talk about Mallary’s life and an episode full of good, practical advice on helping yourself and others.
