Susan Meyers

Jul 9, 2024 | pshares.org | Susan Meyers |Rebecca Makkai

If there’s one thing you learn working on a carnival, it’s how to be invisible. Despite all that bling and zip and wow, a carny’s goal is to straddle the distance between spectacle and crowd: to entice people toward the ticket booth, then slip into the background. In my family, it’s a long-standing tradition. Tricksters and circus folk, we’ve made our living on the road for generations, and growing up on that carnival route, I got much more used to being looked at than seen.

Apr 14, 2023 | theautoethnographer.com | Susan Meyers

Limited (Or No) Reproductive Rights through Generations: This Solitary ChoiceAuthor’s MemoBorn just four years after the passing of Roe vs. Wade, I’d always believed that I had the right to choose when to have a child—right up until I tried to have one. The process of seeking pregnancy alone (by necessity, not choice) showed me how limited reproductive rights in the U.S. truly are—even before the recent loss of Roe vs.

Mar 31, 2023 | huffpost.com | Susan Meyers

Months into the process of trying to become pregnant with my gay friend’s sperm, I got a phone call that changed everything. “What do you mean he can’t be the father?” I asked. Patiently, the nurse explained it all again: How initially, my fertility clinic had supported my desire to use a “known sperm donor” — a close friend who had agreed to help me achieve my dream of becoming a mother — though now it seemed they could not.

Feb 9, 2023 | morganhilltimes.com | Susan Meyers

Jewish teachings emphasize the importance of “rachamim,” which is usually translated as compassion or mercy. We first read about rachamim when it is used in Exodus 34:6-7 in the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the 13 attributes used to describe God. In the Hebrew, rachamim is actually a plural word. According to the Rabbis, this is because the word “compassion” has many interpretations and everyone has their own interpretation of what compassion means.