Table of Contents

Prologue: Nine
 
Part I: Drowning
Them and Me
 
Visions
 
Presto Change-o
 
Meaner
 
The Performance of Drowning
 
Lost Boy
 
Part II : Passing
Little-d Deaf
 
On Being Told No
 
Passing Strange
 
Drag Acts
 
Shhhhhh!
 
Jobs for the Deaf
 
The Shallow End
 
Part III : Emerging
Scare
 
Who Died and What Killed Them
 
Why I Should Matter
 
Epilogue: A Happy Life . . .

About the Author

Terry Galloway is the founder of the Actual Lives writing and performance programs; a founding member of Esther's Follies, Austin, Texas's legendary cabaret; and cofounder of the Mickee Faust Club in Tallahassee, Florida. She divides her time between Austin and Tallahassee.

Reviews

This is a damn fine piece of work which is unbelievably powerful.—Dorothy Allison

"This is not your mother's triumph-of-the-human-spirit memoir. Yes, Terry Galloway is resilient. But she's also caustic, depraved, utterly disinhibited, and somehow sweetly bubbly, a beguiling raconteuse who periodically leaps onto the dinner table and stabs you with her fork. Her story will fascinate, it will hurt, and you will like it."—Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home

"The most uncomfortable laughter of the season."—Out

"One of the finest, most nakedly honest and humorous autobiographies out there to be read. . . . Partly David Sedaris-esque in its slice-of-life essay moments, part slapstick farce, so very real, and always laugh out loud hilarious."—Rebecca Sarwate, Edge

"[A] humorous and harrowing new memoir."—The Advocate

"Told with understandable rage, quirky humor, and extraordinary humanity, this remarkable woman's engaging account deserves a large readership."—Booklist

"A frank, bitingly humorous memoir."—Kirkus Reviews

"[Galloway] is dexterous in her use of words and devastating with a sense of black humor that brings numerous laugh-out-loud delights."—John R. Killacky, The Gay and Lesbian Review

"Galloway was born a storyteller, and her narrative gifts are in full force throughout, spinning yarns about herself and her family that mesmerize."—Robert Faires, Austin Chronicle

This is a damn fine piece of work which is unbelievably powerful.-Dorothy Allison

"This is not your mother's triumph-of-the-human-spirit memoir. Yes, Terry Galloway is resilient. But she's also caustic, depraved, utterly disinhibited, and somehow sweetly bubbly, a beguiling raconteuse who periodically leaps onto the dinner table and stabs you with her fork. Her story will fascinate, it will hurt, and you will like it."-Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home

"The most uncomfortable laughter of the season."-Out

"One of the finest, most nakedly honest and humorous autobiographies out there to be read. . . . Partly David Sedaris-esque in its slice-of-life essay moments, part slapstick farce, so very real, and always laugh out loud hilarious."-Rebecca Sarwate, Edge

"[A] humorous and harrowing new memoir."-The Advocate

"Told with understandable rage, quirky humor, and extraordinary humanity, this remarkable woman's engaging account deserves a large readership."-Booklist

"A frank, bitingly humorous memoir."-Kirkus Reviews

"[Galloway] is dexterous in her use of words and devastating with a sense of black humor that brings numerous laugh-out-loud delights."-John R. Killacky, The Gay and Lesbian Review

"Galloway was born a storyteller, and her narrative gifts are in full force throughout, spinning yarns about herself and her family that mesmerize."-Robert Faires, Austin Chronicle