tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post533142641582089764..comments2024-03-28T09:46:42.923-05:00Comments on Every goddamn day: 03/28/24: Face fearNeil Steinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-30717681822467028122023-07-21T10:54:45.982-05:002023-07-21T10:54:45.982-05:00Thank NS. Like many of your articles I am better ...Thank NS. Like many of your articles I am better person having read it. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-90755502683471680542015-06-24T08:33:14.403-05:002015-06-24T08:33:14.403-05:00but feeling guilty for too long, isn't healthy...but feeling guilty for too long, isn't healthy eitherAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-53901823612909964682015-06-24T00:54:02.804-05:002015-06-24T00:54:02.804-05:00All good, all informative, but it was the personal...All good, all informative, but it was the personal bit about your talking to your childhood classmate, Cynthia, that really hit home. We all have those moments from childhood--ones that we wish we could take back or correct for the better. Couple that personal instance on the issue of disfigurement "acceptance" with your extensive research packed a powerful punch. This is a piece of journalism with staying power, not just for it's usefulness to us all, but because it reaffirms that beneath a person's surface lies his or her unfathomable dignity. Shawn Shiflettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-12190483052286053702015-06-24T00:14:17.579-05:002015-06-24T00:14:17.579-05:00Actually the Craniofacial Center is in the south e...Actually the Craniofacial Center is in the south entrance to the U of I Dental School Building on Paulina, not the hospital.Clark St.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09634234069783123180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-43887233259989860872015-06-23T22:12:51.685-05:002015-06-23T22:12:51.685-05:00At first I was just going to run the more undemand...At first I was just going to run the more undemanding photos, like the ear, but I felt that having the Voices of people, but not showing their photos, was a cop-out, particularly since, in my view at least, you get used to them so quickly. Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-54757798534919178712015-06-23T21:15:24.807-05:002015-06-23T21:15:24.807-05:00I read this first on Mosaic and very much liked bo...I read this first on Mosaic and very much liked both the main article with its intertwining stories and the short interviews. Especially the one with Schrank, maybe because his attitude was so different from what one usually reads/expects on this topic. The approach you took to relaying his story was great - I had the feeling I just had a conversation with him. <br />I was wondering why Mosaic decided not to publish the photos you took of Nieto, Schrank and Chukwueke (or hire a portrait photographer). Strangely, I am not sure myself whether they should have or not. On the one hand, one doesn’t want to “display” people, giving in to that fascination for the strange. On the other, I understood that one idea in the article was, that by showing disfigured faces in the right context, one would help change attitudes towards people with disfigurations. <br />On a more personal note, working in a large academic hospital, I see patients with disfigurations or signs of grave sickness on a daily basis. I work as a researcher (on cartilage tissue engineering, among others, for restoration of nose/ears) not as a clinician, so I only see them briefly on the hallway. Yet, every time, I feel urged to make a conscious decision on where to look. I don’t want to shy away from them, to not make them feel like they are repulsive. Yet, I also don’t want to focus (stare) on their deformities, not to remind them of what sticks out. Which of course is ridiculous, because even without my glance, they are probably very much conscious of their body and how it is “different”. I feel guilty of not knowing how to react. When facing non-disfigured people, the same decision is subconscious, so I don’t have to decide. To some extent, I think, I wrongly extrapolate my own thoughts onto others. When I have something (temporarily) bothering me about my image (e.g. greasy hair day) I initially feel like in the centre of a Panopticon. Maybe having a permanent disfigurement actually yields a different attitude though, because you have time to develop a relationship to it – that’s why I appreciated the article, it gives insight. Joahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00845722457192864045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-1672064799220827772015-06-23T20:07:46.920-05:002015-06-23T20:07:46.920-05:00Excellent and fascinating article, one of your bes...Excellent and fascinating article, one of your best in my opinion. Perhaps, and just speculating here, but might another reason people have such a hard time getting around the fear or aversion of disfigured people is because as a child their parents told them not to stare or look away as if what they were seeing was something to be afraid of? An odd question for you, did the Mosaic editor change the spellings to the Brit way, or was it something you did knowing it was being published in the UK? Nikki Dnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-59532627878778459612015-06-23T17:44:41.825-05:002015-06-23T17:44:41.825-05:00Well, I like to think I had "Keep their atten...Well, I like to think I had "Keep their attention" in mind as well. To be honest, I finished writing it at this length, more than twice what we contracted for, and sent it to my editor for guidance as to what to cut. She didn't want to cut anything --- well, one vignette that made me look bad.Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-60011521407148882882015-06-23T17:19:08.593-05:002015-06-23T17:19:08.593-05:00Thanks Neil. Articles of this depth and length are...Thanks Neil. Articles of this depth and length are becoming harder to find. Even Vanity Fair seems to have embraced the corporate "Bullet Point" - "Keep their attention" style of articles.<br /><br />Paul Fedrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04384556977324071639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-44382144372526504532015-06-23T16:49:59.037-05:002015-06-23T16:49:59.037-05:00Thanks Tom, although the story was posted by CNN a...Thanks Tom, although the story was posted by CNN and run, in a shorter form, in the Sun-Times, so it got out there. Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-3219247247630047992015-06-23T16:12:43.185-05:002015-06-23T16:12:43.185-05:00A well wrought and thoughtful piece of reporting N...A well wrought and thoughtful piece of reporting Neil. Too bad it can't reach a wider audience than this blog and Mosaic. If I owned the Atlantic Monthly or some other mag that runs long form articles it would.<br /><br />Issues most of us haven't had to deal with but should think about. My mother, an elementary school teacher, spent several years teaching disabled children, most of them suffering from nervous system disabilities but some severely disfigured. I remember her saying that most were lovely kids although there were always a few real brats who were hard to discipline and dealing with their parents was sometimes a problem. I think her point was that when you got to know them they were much like everybody else, but sometimes their loved ones had a hard time letting them be.<br /><br />A nice shout out to the profession. Mention plastic surgery these days and the first thing that comes to mind are the treatments people endure in aid of the pretense that they're not growing old.<br /><br />Tom EvansAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-63744319311823620102015-06-23T13:05:10.357-05:002015-06-23T13:05:10.357-05:00I thought it was an interesting observation, Berni...I thought it was an interesting observation, Bernie, and, compared with some of the off-topic comments that get posted hereabouts, yours is at least in the ballpark, unlike those which are so far beyond left field that you can't even smell the beer. : )Jakashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-36028783719790271792015-06-23T12:58:12.852-05:002015-06-23T12:58:12.852-05:00Well done, NS. Another on the list of things I wo...Well done, NS. Another on the list of things I wouldn't have read if you hadn't written it, but I believe that your honesty, humanity and talent for succinct observations added to the impact of this compelling piece. "I’m not sure whether I was more or less scared of people with disfigurements than is average." Personally, I seriously doubt that I'm in the "less" category. I have a hard time with the cleft palate photos advertising a charity that one sees in many places, though I think I might be able to turn the pages of the C's in the dictionary at a normal speed...<br /><br />One would hope, and perhaps even go so far as to expect that, as with the strides being made by society with regard to acceptance of many other issues that used to result in people being marginalized for not being "normal", the future will be kinder to those experiencing "facial discrimination" than the past has been. Articles such as this can certainly help in that regard. <br /><br />Nice that they included links to a sampling of some of your work at the Mosaic website. Maybe the Steinberg Bakery will get to serve some new customers, at this late date...Jakashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-53137466124039755012015-06-23T11:49:15.591-05:002015-06-23T11:49:15.591-05:00The Craniofacial Center is located in the Universi...The Craniofacial Center is located in the University of Illinois Hospital, which is part of the Illinois Medical District. Most of these facilities where build post World War II with the assistance financial or otherwise, of local politicians. These days we hear of things like Children's Memorial Hospital getting an 8 million dollar Illinois grant, to fund surgical procedures for children, and the Hospital CEO gets a phone call demanding 50K in political donations.Berniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17157600812959885192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-87201638612671906632015-06-23T11:30:17.779-05:002015-06-23T11:30:17.779-05:00All well and good Bernie, but what does this have ...All well and good Bernie, but what does this have to do with craniofacial surgery? SandyKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-6348201628687452122015-06-23T10:21:29.439-05:002015-06-23T10:21:29.439-05:00The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, allows go...The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, allows government to seize private property via eminent domain, for the public good. These days we see things like the Chicago School Board, or a pension fund, buy industrial property using eminent domain, pay for environmental remediation, and sell it to a connected developer at a small profit. It then gets re-zoned residential, and the developer's property value doubles or more in value.For all their faults, politicians like Vito Marzullo and Richard J. Daley were men of vision. They took a lot of criticism for using eminent <br />domain, to buy large tracts of land in the near west-side. The original intent of the Amendment, for the public good, was fulfilled with the construction of places like, The Chicago Lighthouse, UIC Campus, and expansion of the Illinois Medical District. Correct me if I'm wrong, but much of this was achieved with minimal corruption. Berniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17157600812959885192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-66162023671755467112015-06-23T07:03:19.954-05:002015-06-23T07:03:19.954-05:00Wow. Good that you do the blog. I don't thin...Wow. Good that you do the blog. I don't think a column-length article would have done justice to the stories.tatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088632798195131329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-74121921397263270902015-06-23T06:54:21.612-05:002015-06-23T06:54:21.612-05:00oops , I mean research that you did , not surgeryoops , I mean research that you did , not surgeryAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-6017758915531960562015-06-23T06:53:32.628-05:002015-06-23T06:53:32.628-05:00What a tremendous amount of surgery you must have ...What a tremendous amount of surgery you must have done for this informative article, Mr. Steinberg. Perhaps it can help some people esp. with the U of I info. You must be strong stomached to handle some of those visits. How tough these people are. The marines story is especially moving.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com