Photo credit: Claire Marika
The Electric Woman recounts the season I spent as a performer in America’s last traveling sideshow. Music was everywhere — on stage while we swallowed swords and threw knives, blasting from the rides surrounding us, echoing through our circus tent at night while we learned new acts after the fairgrounds were closed. This is a story about fear — about the myth that bravery is the absence of fear. Instead, I think it is the willingness to do something despite being afraid: Eating fire. Charming snakes. I learned that lesson from my fellow performers and from my mom, who, despite having suffered a series of massive strokes that left her half paralyzed and unable to speak, chose adventure...