About this item
How do you go about caregiving for an ill and elderly parent with a lifelong history of abuse and control, intertwined with expressions of intense love and adoration? How do you reconcile the resulting ambivalence, fear, and anger? Welcome to Wherever We Are is a meditation on what we hold onto, what we let go of, how we remember others and ultimately how we're remembered. Deborah Cohan shares her story of caring for her father, a man who was simultaneously loud, gentle, loving and cruel and whose brilliant career as an advertising executive included creating slogans like "Hey, how 'bout a nice Hawaiian punch?" Wrestling with emotional extremes that characterize abusive relationships, Cohan shows how she navigated life with a man who was at once generous and affectionate, creating magical coat pockets filled with chocolate kisses when she was a little girl, yet who was also prone to searing, vicious remarks like "You'd make my life easier if you'd commit suicide.
About the Author
Deborah J. Cohan's first book is Welcome to Wherever We Are: A Memoir of Family, Caregiving, and Redemption. A sought after speaker, Cohan is available for talks, readings and workshops related to intimacy and relationships, gender-based violence and trauma, grief and loss, body image, sexuality, and race, as well as creative writing and issues related to the landscape of higher education. Cohan is a professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort, a contributing writer for Psychology Today online, a frequent contributor to Inside Higher Ed, and is regularly featured as an expert for national media on a range of social issues. She has been cited in: CNN, MSN, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, USA Today, US News & World Report, Cosmopolitan, Martha Stewart Weddings, Brides, Elite Daily, Utne Reader, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, TODAY, Bankrate, Vox, Slate, Vice News, Huffington Post, Bustle, Romper, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Christian Science Monitor.Cohan has done domestic violence work in four states and worked as a counselor and clinical supervisor at the first battering intervention program in the United States. She has also served as an expert consultant in cases of domestic violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment.Cohan is trained in mindfulness and healing work, and facilitates Deep River workshops.
