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LARA FREIDENFELDS

Historian of Health, Reproduction, and Parenting in America

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    • The Myth of The Perfect Pregnancy
    • The Modern Period
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    • All Posts
    • family
    • law
    • abortion
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    • assisted reproduction
    • menstruation
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    Lara Freidenfelds
    • Jul 30, 2020

    Accessibility in America Past and Present

    Bess Williamson’s Accessible America: A History of Disability and Design is a thought-provoking and edifying look at the shifting culture...
    40 views0 comments
    Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
    • Oct 7, 2019

    Is a Historian’s Library an Archive or a Living Thing?

    This week I purged my bookshelves. As a Ph.D. historian, it initially felt like a risky move — somewhere in between disowning my former...
    7 views0 comments
    Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
    • Aug 23, 2018

    Are Our Smart Devices Turning Us into Dumb Humans?

    Are all of our “smart” devices training us to be “dumb” humans, too-often indistinguishable from mere machines? As click-through...
    4 views0 comments
    Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
    • Sep 22, 2017

    Face to Face with Sharrona Pearl

    I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sharrona Pearl about her new book, Face/On: Transplants and the Ethics of the Other. Below...
    2 views0 comments
    Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
    • Jun 10, 2017

    I May Not Heal, But I Will Live Better Thanks to Occupational Therapy

    Last year I learned how to chop a carrot with my eyes closed. While being filmed. Sounds like one of those crazy reality cooking shows,...
    5 views0 comments
    Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
    • Oct 11, 2016

    Diversity Works, but Only if We Can Forgive One Another

    “We are a divided nation,” Donald Trump repeats again and again.  And then he makes plans to divide us still further: registration of...
    5 views0 comments
    Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
    • Aug 25, 2016

    Playwright Alice Eve Cohen Asks Us to Reconsider What We Think We Know about Pregnancy and Motherhoo

    “What makes a mother real?” asks writer and performer Alice Eve Cohen in her newly-published play, What I Thought I Knew. In 1999, Cohen...
    5 views0 comments
    Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
    • May 26, 2016

    I Could Wrestle with my Disability, but I Think I’ll Dance Instead

    A year and a half ago, I gained a permanent dance partner. That’s what I’ve decided. That’s how I need to think about the damage to my...
    17 views0 comments
    Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
    • May 3, 2016

    Sorry, I’m Disabled. Oh, Wait, I’m Not Sorry, Just Disabled.

    “Sorry,” I say, “Sorry, but would you mind giving me the directions again a little slower? I have a visual impairment and I didn’t see...
    5 views0 comments
    Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
    • Sep 3, 2015

    If You’re Not a Jerk, Then I’m Not Disabled

    This is my fantasy: I’m standing at the Main Street corner in my little New Jersey suburban downtown, waiting to cross the street. As...
    2 views0 comments

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