Author/Photographer: Esther Bender. Potter: Lynn Lais. 65 pages. ISBN: 0-8361-9100-5. Heavy cream paper. Price: $12.99.

Award

Winner of the Silver Angel Award from Excellence in Media.

Description

"What treasure is within this jar, hidden in the darkness?"

People are clay. They cry to the potter in poems, vignettes, photographs, and images about their disabilities, especially those of Parkinson's Disease. (Three pages of Resources.)

Author's Comments

A potter takes clay and "throws pottery" with it on a potter's wheel. When I was fifteen, I became a potter through craft classes at a local shop. From my training there I got my ideas for A Cry from the Clay. People are surprised when I show them that the ideas are in the Bible, in Jeremiah, "Go down to the shop where clay pots and jars are made."

Reviews

"Beautiful poems and vignettes provide inspiration and education for people with Parkinson's disease and those who love them. Esther Bender is a bright and insightful woman who is sharing her innermost feelings with us in a wonderful way."
— Dr. Howard E. Weiss, Neurologist, Sinai Hospital, Baltimore

"We all are disabled. We all are able. We are all flawed, but we must look for beauty, not for flaws."

"An inspiring book from a talented and courageous author."
— Dr. Frederick Lenz, Surgeon, John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore

"Without doubt the best personal account written by a patient that I've seen."
— Judy Rosner, Executive Director, United Parkinson Foundation, Chicago