But after unexpectedly becoming a mother (in violation of unspoken social taboos about the disabled body), something in her shifts, and Jones sets off on a journey across the globe, reclaiming the spaces she’d been denied, and denied herself.įrom the bars and domestic spaces of her life in Brooklyn to sculpture gardens in Rome from film festivals in Utah to a Beyoncé concert in Milan from a tennis tournament in California to the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh, Jones weaves memory, observation, experience, and aesthetic philosophy to probe the myths underlying our standards of beauty and desirability, and interrogates her own complicity in upholding those myths. She resisted this reality by excelling academically and retreating to “the neutral room in her mind” until it passed. But there is also the pain of being judged and pitied for her appearance, of being dismissed as “less than.” The way she has been seen-or not seen-has informed her lens on the world her entire life.
Born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis which affects both her stature and gait, her pain is physical. Jones learned early on to factor “pain calculations” into every plan, every situation. “I am in a bar in Brooklyn, listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether my life is worth living.” So begins Chloé Cooper Jones’s bold, revealing account of moving through the world in a body that looks different than most. The event will take place from 4:00 to 5:15pm in the Rifkind Center (NAC 6/316). Jones’s book will be available for purchase at a discounted price for those who attend. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A and book signing with the author. On Thursday, March 30, author Chloe Cooper Jones will read from her latest book Easy Beauty in a collaborated event presented by the CCNY MFA in Creative Writing and the Department of Philosophy. André Aciman, author of Call Me By Your Name Chloé Cooper Jones is ruthless in probing our weakest and darkest areas, and does so with grace, humor, and ultimately, with something one seldom finds: kindness and humanity.” “Easy Beauty is bold, honest, and superbly well-written.
The CCNY MFA in Creative Writing and the Department of Philosophy presents
Presented by The CCNY MFA in Creative Writing and The CCNY Department of Philosophy Thursday, Ma4:00 – 5:15 PM
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