Publication Day: “The Ship of Theseus” in Creative Wisconsin Magazine

Today marks a milestone I have been working toward through some of the hardest years of my life.

My first published piece — an excerpt from my memoir in progress, Keeping It Together While Falling Apart — appears today in Creative Wisconsin Magazine.

It is titled “The Ship of Theseus,” and it explores identity, the body, and the philosophical question at the heart of the memoir: when so much of you has been taken away and replaced, what remains?

The Ship of Theseus is an ancient thought experiment. A ship has every plank replaced over time — is it still the same ship? I have had more than thirty-four surgeries. A rare genetic disorder ended a 32-year teaching career I loved. The question stopped being abstract a long time ago. I wrote this piece one-handed on a difficult day. I write most things on difficult days. The words kept coming anyway, which is the only answer I have found to the question of how you keep going. This is the beginning. There is more to read, and more on the way.

The writing is slow, almost always painful—mostly the physical chronic kinds that nag and sometimes scream for attention. But the writing is salve on the pain. A way of moving when moving has become both a luxury, burden, and sometimes even a team effort.

A quick acknowledgement: Thank you to my wife, family, and friends who help me do everything so I can do some of this.

Read “The Ship of Theseus” Creative Wisconsin Magazine

To follow the memoir as it develops, subscribe at tljohnson2028.substack.com