Ep. 19 - Bryn Greenwood

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this, our 19th episode, our guest is Bryn Greenwood

But, before we get to that, I need to take a moment to tell you about our sponsor.

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A book I would personally recommend that pertains to this episode is “All The Ugly And Wonderful Things” by today's guest Bryn Greenwood. This unabridged audiobook is over 11 hours long and is read by Jorjeana Marie. It is set to be released August 9. Whatever book you pick, you can exchange it at any time. You can cancel at any time and the books are yours to keep.

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Back to today's show.

Bryn Greenwood is a fourth-generation Kansan, one of seven sisters, and the daughter of a mostly reformed drug dealer. She earned a MA in Creative Writing and continues to work in academia as an administrator. Her novel “All the Ugly and Wonderful Things” is coming from St. Martin's Press in August. She is also the author of the small press novels “Last Will” and “Lie Lay Lain.” Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Battered Suitcase, Kansas Quarterly, and Chiron Review. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas, where she is married to an extensive home remodeling project, and is raising a small herd of boxers and hairless cats.

I first became aware of Bryn on Nov. 29, 2015, when she tweeted the following:

“I worked at a #PlannedParenthood clinic in Kansas for 3 years. My coworkers & I were subjected to the following acts of terrorism: Gasoline was poured under our back door & ignited 4 times. Twice while the clinic was occupied, causing patients to be evacuated. Butyric acid (used as a stink bomb) was poured under our doors & into ventilation system so many times I lost count. Clinic evacuated. 2 cherry bombs were left on our doorstep after hours, causing damage & clinic closure. Imagine what it's like going to work after that. We received hundreds of phone calls, threatening to torch our clinic & to kill the "murdering whores" who worked there. 3 times someone drove by at night & shot out our windows. Picketers stood on the sidewalk & harassed employees as we swept up broken glass. Our clinic didn't perform abortions. We did well woman exams, pregnancy tests, dispensed birth control, & treated STIs. Our clinic offered free & low cost services in a low income neighborhood, but every day the "pro-life" movement tried to frighten us. The goal was to make us afraid to come to work, to make us quit, to make us close the clinic. That's terrorism. That's how terrorism works. Anyone who approves of harassing clinics is giving support to terrorism. #StandWithPP At the same time, I volunteered at Dr. George Tiller's abortion clinic. In 1993 he was shot by a "pro-lifer." He came to work the next day. Dr. Tiller kept coming to work after he was shot, because he was a caring man who knew how important his work was. In 2009, Dr. Tiller was murdered in his own church, again by a "pro-lifer." The goal was to scare other doctors who perform abortions. Abortions are still provided in Dr. Tiller's old clinic, because that's how you respond to terrorism. We can't let them win.”

I then stumbled across her January 14 essay for The New York Times titled, “Why I Always Wanted to Be a Secretary,” which you should definitely read.

You can find Bryn on her website at: www.bryngreenwood.com.

And now, on to the show.