Skin in the Game:
The Stories My Tattoos Tell
An Intimate Author Experience
Have you ever read my book?
I haven’t, either.
This podcast, a reading of Kelly J. Mendenhall’s memoir, is like attending a live author reading while listening to a podcast in your favorite listening spot, maybe in your comfiest clothes. Experience Mendenhall’s book, Skin in the Game: The Stories My Tattoos Tell, read by the author. The author and audience experience her book together; as Mendenhall explains, she doesn’t remember writing it.
On June 21, 2017, I worked my last day in an office job, out in the world.
I was losing my ability to walk. My steps were becoming smaller and smaller until I could only shuffle my feet a few inches at a time. Unfortunately, doctors didn’t believe me about my pain and other symptoms, so it took 2.5 years of fighting against medical gaslighting to discover that my spinal cord was being crushed by a mass of cells in my spinal canal.
It would take another year and a half to discover the “worst case of endometriosis my surgeon had seen in her entire career,” which was invading my abdomen, pelvis, and lower spinal canal.
From December 28, 2018, to October 2022, I survived six major surgeries. I had four neurosurgeries and two abdominal surgeries, including a medically necessary hysterectomy.
While navigating it all, I wrote a book. It was published on June 1, 2019.
Five days later, I got the news about the mass in my spinal canal and two upcoming neurosurgeries. And from there, well, you can imagine how hard it was to go out and promote the thing.
I am reading my memoir with you, my audience, for the first time in its entirety.
Much of it I don’t remember writing.
Join me for the highs and lows, rediscoveries, tears, and laughter.
It’s everything you want in an author reading, without having to leave your home.
Episode Seven: Chapter Eight, Concluded (The Sleeve)
“My friend Mark was unlike anyone else I’ve ever met. He grew up in a hyper-religious and conservative family but was one of the most open-minded and accepting people I’ve ever known. He was a Marine, and by the time I met him he had served two tours in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He’d also been in a serious relationship with a registered member of the Communist Party, which always cracked me up.
...
“For the record, I thought Mark was a total jackass on first sight. He wore tweed suit jackets with suede elbow patches to school every day. He laughed at his own jokes—a lot. I was perpetually rolling my eyes at him. I also wasn’t impressed by the Marine thing — I hated the war in Iraq. I was scared to death of losing my friends who were on active duty overseas throughout the conflict.
But Mark always had thoughtful questions and responses to lectures which intrigued me about him. After a while, I softened up.”
Excerpt From
Skin in the Game: The Stories My Tattoos Tell: An Intimate Author Experience: Episode 5
Written and performed by Kelly J. Mendenhall
This material is protected by copyright.
Episode Eight: Chapter Nine: The Story of Us
“If you know as much about Boxers as a breed as I did when I adopted Rosebud, then you know approximately 5% of what you need to know to prepare for having a Boxer at home. They’re often referred to as the Peter Pan breed because they never grow up. They’re almost always as goofy and playful into adulthood as they are as puppies. Boxers, and especially deaf boxers, are prone to pretty severe separation anxiety. Beyond that, Boxers are susceptible to a myriad of health issues. And Rosebud is no exception to any of these. But my neuroses and her neuroses seemed to make us fit together just perfectly, like two jigsaw pieces in the fabric of the universe who spent an immeasurable amount of time waiting to find one another.”
Excerpt From
Skin in the Game: The Stories my Tattoos Tell
Kelly J. Mendenhall
This material may be protected by copyright.
This podcast, a reading of Kelly J. Mendenhall’s memoir, is like attending a live author reading while listening to a podcast in your favorite listening spot, maybe in your comfiest clothes. Experience Mendenhall’s book, Skin in the Game: The Stories My Tattoos Tell, read by the author. The author and audience experience her book together; as Mendenhall explains, she doesn’t remember writing it.
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