Rebecca Hensley

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About Rebecca Hensley
Rebecca Hensley is unapologetic, smart, and wants to change the world. She taught sociology courses on race, class, gender, and sexuality for three decades at universities in the deep south and now dedicates her life to prison abolition work in Louisiana.
Her blog on race relations (www.WhyAmINotSurprised.blogspot.com) has been visited more than a million times in nearly 200 countries. And if she can find the time, she intends to bring out a paperback compilation of her best posts from this blog.
Her blog on in-your-face women (www.inyourfacewomen.blogspot.com) holds 366 mini-bios -- one for every day of a year -- about real women from across time and around the world who did not act right.
And she works hard to manage her diabetes because she's just warming up.
Her blog on race relations (www.WhyAmINotSurprised.blogspot.com) has been visited more than a million times in nearly 200 countries. And if she can find the time, she intends to bring out a paperback compilation of her best posts from this blog.
Her blog on in-your-face women (www.inyourfacewomen.blogspot.com) holds 366 mini-bios -- one for every day of a year -- about real women from across time and around the world who did not act right.
And she works hard to manage her diabetes because she's just warming up.
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Author Updates
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Blog postIt's been four weeks since I posted on this blog -- something you may or may not have noticed. To say I've been "busy" and even "overwhelmed" would be a fairly substantial understatement. Sometimes, life is like that. And I think I can reasonably assume that you (each and every one of you that read this) have noticed that.
I won't bore you with the gory details. Suffice it to say, they've been pretty gory. Emotionally, not physically, but gory nonetheless.4 years ago Read more -
Blog postI once had a friend who became one of my heroes when she systematically dirtied all her dishes, cups and glasses, pots and pans, silverware and cooking utensils, took one look at the mess she had made, and then boxed it all up and lugged it to the curb. I would never do something like that myself, you understand. I can't afford it, for one thing. But I'd get tired of living with it all long before I was through the process. Still, it's the kind of thing we might dream of doing when we're ti4 years ago Read more
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Blog postSome things can be planned and some resist you like a two-year-old full of birthday cake. And you can't always tell which are going to be which.
One thing that seems to be working pretty well for me right now is coming home after I shop at my favorite grocery store and remembering to do their online survey. I've mentioned this before because, while I have a few friends who are so much better off financially than I am that it really doesn't matter (within reason) how much they spend4 years ago Read more -
Blog postThose of us who have diabetes may get a lot of finger-wagging from medical professionals, family members, and even friends about high blood sugar. And it's absolutely true that if we're not managing our condition, if we're eating more than we should, forgetting to take our medication, or eating the wrong things, our blood glucose will be high and our risk of developing complications -- like blindness or strokes or heart attacks or neuropathy (which can cause us to lose an arm or a leg) -- are gr4 years ago Read more
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Blog postLast week, I told you about an event where I sold ten books in thirty minutes -- a very unusual experience in my process to interest people in the book I published a year ago, Your Life Isn't Over ~ It May Have Just Begun.
This week, my story is vastly different. I stood (or perched on a stool) for three hours while literally hundreds of people strolled by at a huge downtown event and sold...wait for it...none. I was just outside the door of a popular bookstore, had a snappy d4 years ago Read more -
Blog postThis time last year, I had just brought out my book, Your Life Isn't Over ~ It May Have Just Begun!, I had an official launch event scheduled for October (National Diabetes Awareness Month), and I was feeling my oats. Everyday, I did something to promote my new book -- handing out flyers, attending and speaking at health fairs, talking to medical professionals, giving away book after autographed book (that I was paying for) -- and I just knew I was going to help all kinds of people sufferi4 years ago Read more
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Blog postWhen I was first diagnosed with diabetes in 2008, I was 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighed 168 pounds. I was put on oral medications. I started counting carbohydrate grams like my life depended on it (because I was convinced that it did). I started hitting the gym regularly. And six months later, I weighed 118. The weight had just melted off.
Nobody was more surprised than me. I went from a size 14 to a size 2. I was rocking long form-fitting sweaters and skinny jeans. And I was almos4 years ago Read more -
Blog postI readily admit that my orientation to family (unfortunately, perhaps) is less than warm and fuzzy. I realize I wouldn't even be here if my father and mother hadn't...well...you know. And I'm glad they did, of course.
But my father was a pedophile and my mother was psychotic, so my childhood was right up there with "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?" on steroids. I don't even like to imagine what happened to my two younger brothers and two younger sisters after I ran for my4 years ago Read more -
Blog postI declare inside the front cover of my book, Your Life Isn't Over ~ It May Have Just Begun!, that I am not a medical professional. I can't diagnose or treat illness (my own or anybody else's). And furthermore, each body is different, so what works for me may not work for you. Having said that, however, there are some things I've learned about managing diabetes -- and health in general -- that are valuable information. Playing an active role in your health care process is one of them.
4 years ago Read more -
Blog postFew of us will ever run a marathon. Several years ago, I won a 5K run for women in my age range (coming within a hair's breadth of beating the first place male) and I'm still bragging about it. I haven't run competitively since because there's nowhere to go from there but down. And I get older every day that I stay alive.
My point is that running 27 miles is more than most of us are up to, especially as we age. People do it, but it takes a lot of training. It takes a lot of commitme4 years ago Read more -
Blog postIf you're one of my regular readers, you know that I often write about ways my diabetic condition has actually helped me. It got me down to a healthier (and cuter) weight. It kind of semi-forces me to exercise, which I would definitely not do if I wasn't diabetic. And it has introduced me to some delicious foods I probably would never have even tried if I was still gorging on fried everything and washing it all down with big gulps of sweet tea.
But there are more subtle ways le4 years ago Read more -
Blog postWhen I was a little girl, my mother used to sing a song I only vaguely remember. It went something like: "The thigh bone's connected to the leg bone and the leg bone's connected to the ankle bone..." and on and on from there. It had a catchy tune, so I liked it. But it also taught me an idea that has become very important to me as a person living with diabetes: things that don't necessarily appear to be connected often are, so everything I do (or don't do) affects my body and, ul5 years ago Read more
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Blog postLast week, I wrote about why we should feel perfectly all right applying for and spending Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (better known as SNAP) funds. One of the reasons this is on my mind is that in the summer, I don't get paid. And regardless of how much I've put away to cover my basic bills out of the salary I get from September through May, the summer months provide a challenge. Then, if my car battery dies (like it did last week), I find myself stressing not unlike I did in5 years ago Read more
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Blog postSome of you might be surprised to learn that a woman who teaches college full-time at the age of 70 spent a decade on food stamps earlier in her life. And I make no apology for it. I got my first job at 13, worked in high school, and started paying income tax while I was still an adolescent. Not to mention sales tax and all of the other taxes and fees I've paid through the years to support our system that so often doesn't support us.
For my first five years on food stamps, I had two5 years ago Read more -
Blog postI don't write much about my father. He had a fatal flaw. Maybe even more than one. But it occurred to me this morning that he gave me one gift that keeps on giving -- in a good way. He was a "management analyst" (whatever that means). Not that he talked about it much. When I asked him as a child what he did when he went to work, he replied with a chuckle that he "pushed papers around."
But what I saw, week after week, month after month, until I left his house at5 years ago Read more -
Blog postSince writing Your Life Isn't Over ~ It May Have Just Begun!, I will pretty much talk to anybody about diabetes management any time anywhere. I don't claim to be an "expert." I'm no kind of medical professional. And there are lots of folks who have been managing diabetes quite successfully for far longer than I have.
But I have learned a few things through the years since I was diagnosed in February of 2008. And the process of spending an entire summer wading through my me5 years ago Read more -
Blog postThe past couple of weeks have been an adventure. As I told you in my last blog post, I left for Cuba on May 24th to plan a conference there for 2017. That would have been adventure enough, needless to say. I hoped that I would have time before I got on the plane to schedule a post for last Sunday, but that didn't happen.
So I told myself that I'd jump right on the internet as soon as I was state-side again on June 1st to make up for leaving you hanging. But by the time I got back, I5 years ago Read more -
Blog postThere was a time in my life -- sometimes it feels like a million years ago and sometimes it feels like yesterday -- when I would make a decision and run with it into a fire. Nothing could stop me or even necessarily slow me down.
It wasn't that I thought I was always right. It was that I didn't think period. Each day was a millennium and I was the sun at the middle of it all. It made for some rough going on occasion. But I wasn't looking back. I was going to live forever. Or die you5 years ago Read more -
Blog postThree weeks ago, I stood in front of an audience of 1900 strangers and admitted that I'm seventy years old. I had to work up to the admission for a month before the event. I had spent some years already telling people, "I'm really, really old." But I couldn't typically find the nerve to casually admit my age in conversations. Except with my doctor. Or a very close friend. And then only in a whisper.
I cracked jokes about it in front of my students in class. "I would t5 years ago Read more -
Blog postI'm no doctor or nurse. In fact, I'm not a trained health professional at all. And I know that each body is different. Some of us are older than others. We represent different genders and body types. Some of us jump out of planes for fun. And some of us can't get out of bed. It's complicated. But I hope that, if I communicate anything at all in these posts, one of the principal messages that comes across is that balance is key to managing diabetes.
When I was diagnosed with our shar5 years ago Read more -
Blog postTwice this week, I was greatly appreciated for behaving in a kind manner. In both cases, the people involved compared my actions to those of others they had recently come into contact with. And in one case, a server actually wouldn't accept my tip because he was so grateful that I had been "nice." It's sad to me that people in public places treat those who serve them badly, so I wound up making a joke about acting like a "grown-up." But later, I got to think5 years ago Read more
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Blog postThis morning, I'm sitting down to write this post on Monday instead of Sunday (as I usually do) because I was out of town all weekend after a week so hectic that I didn't have time to write it in advance. This caused me to remember that, when I was a kid, my mother used to say ruefully when someone would fail to meet her expectations, "A day late and a dollar short..." But, though I'm a day late, I'm richer than I've ever been. Not richer in money, but richer in spirit.
Wi5 years ago Read more -
Blog postLast week, I wrote about the relationship to food that most of us have because, as best I can tell, people (like me) diagnosed with diabetes struggle -- a lot -- with that relationship. I know that more than twenty thousand people in the world die every day from hunger-related causes. And I don't want to be a whiner. But it sometimes gets tiresome thinking and re-thinking and over-thinking food the way I choose to do.
I say "choose to do" because many of us (diabetic or no5 years ago Read more -
Blog postLast week, I wrote about how anxiety interfaces with my diabetes. Then, this morning, while I was thumbing through a magazine for people newly diagnosed with our condition, I noticed a bit of news. Apparently, a new study has found that people with diabetes are disproportionately likely to suffer with both depression and heart attacks. The connection between diabetes and these other two issues is not new news. What came out in the study, however, is that the three separate conditions are a trini5 years ago Read more
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Blog postMost people that know me, especially those that have known me for a while, will tell you that I'm wrapped a little tight. Always have been. Even as a toddler, I was a perfectionist. And being a perfectionist will amp up that anxiety level at a moment's notice over things other folks wouldn't even notice.
It's not as though I haven't worked on it over the years. And whether or not my efforts were always 100% conscious, I have made progress. The first time I was made aware that my emo5 years ago Read more
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Books By Rebecca Hensley
$4.99
Reduced to Equality examines the life experiences and perspectives of one White sociologist who was born in the mountains of Kentucky, raised in a changing neighborhood in northern Illinois, gave birth to a bi-racial daughter, and eventually discovered that her ancestors were committed slave-holders. Coming to grips with her new and unexpected discovery, Hensley, with the help of her daughter, realizes that, ultimately, White people will have to do more than apologize for our shared past and present in order to ensure our future survival as a nation. Hensley's seven-decade journey to better understand what she calls the "socially-constructed, political notion of race" has taken her into prisons, universities, and even confrontations with the Ku Klux Klan. In Reduced to Equality, she lays bare her own personal vulnerability in an effort to help bridge the chasm between Black people and White people in America.
$3.99
If you’re looking for an encyclopedia about diabetes – full of scientific jargon and endless detailed instructions on every aspect of managing the disease – this little book is not it. On the other hand, if you’ve just been diagnosed or you’re just coming to grips with it after spending some time arm wrestling the idea, this easily readable 180-page volume can jump start your process by providing many of the tips, hints, and inside information the others don’t. Want to know how a real live 69-year-old diabetic has actually gotten more fit, more energetic, more positive in her way of looking at things, and even cuter since she joined the ranks of those who march to diabetes’ drum? Then you’re in luck.
Want to know which glucometer will tell you your glucose level with the tiniest bit of blood imaginable? It’s in here.
Want to know where to get a seriously delicious slice of New York cheese cake that only has 4 grams of carb? No problem.
Want to quit feeling like you’ve been put in time out while the rest of the human race goes on without you? You’ve come to the right place.
And if you’ll read this book with an open mind, you’re going to discover that your life isn’t over. It may have just begun!
Want to know which glucometer will tell you your glucose level with the tiniest bit of blood imaginable? It’s in here.
Want to know where to get a seriously delicious slice of New York cheese cake that only has 4 grams of carb? No problem.
Want to quit feeling like you’ve been put in time out while the rest of the human race goes on without you? You’ve come to the right place.
And if you’ll read this book with an open mind, you’re going to discover that your life isn’t over. It may have just begun!
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