You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor & Janina Matthewson

Author:Jeffrey Cranor & Janina Matthewson [Cranor, Jeffrey & Matthewson, Janina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 2021-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

Interlude

At this point there is a further gap in Dr. Gregory’s account, albeit a significantly smaller one. Employee records of the Gateway Childhood Center, while scattershot at the beginning of Miriam’s tenure there, were scrupulous by the time she left, placing her exit in the autumn of 1951.

Miriam’s account picks up again roughly two years later, in 1953.

Unlike the previous lapse in the narrative, however, for this one we have some awareness of what the doctor was doing because her work became a matter of public record. Her practices had already influenced public policy, of course, and we are entering the only period in her life when she discussed them directly with the public.

By all accounts, she moved to Baltimore fairly soon after departing Gateway. Whether or not it was her aim in moving there, she had access to much greater resources for research in Baltimore, as the libraries of both Johns Hopkins and Georgetown were made available to her. She gave occasional lectures at both institutions during her years in the area, though she did not seek full-time employment at either, claiming she preferred to work independently.

It was during this time that Miriam first began to write about her work for publication.

Her first book, A Farewell to Trauma, was published in February of 1953; she claimed to have worked on it full time for eighteen months. The book is a dry psychological text that seeks to explore how experiences during childhood can impact one’s ability to manage adult life.

Dr. Gregory would concentrate on academia over the following years. Rather than returning to work with children herself, she chose to operate as a consultant to childhood centers that needed help, to work on further psychological publications (both in medical journals and books), and occasionally to teach psychology students.

After the rather shocking ending of the previous section, it behooves us to urge the reader to maintain some emotional distance from the text. As Miriam brings in more sensational (and unlikely) accounts, it is easy to lose perspective.

Such histrionic episodes are among the key reasons we questioned the wisdom of publishing the manuscript at all. There is no value in provoking outbreaks of feeling over events that may never have occurred, and forming an undue emotional connection to the subjects of the text only serves to further muddy its already silt-ridden waters.

The value of this manuscript lies chiefly in that it is a rare depiction of a life lived during the greatest social upheaval the world has ever known. It is also valuable for the insight it provides into the mental state of a person who had an undeniable impact on the world as it operates today.

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