Research Catalog
I'm telling the truth, but I'm lying : essays
- Title
- I'm telling the truth, but I'm lying : essays / Bassey Ikpi.
- Author
- Ikpi, Bassey
- Publication
- New York : Harper Perennial, [2019]
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | Sc D 19-925 | Schomburg Center - Research & Reference |
Details
- Description
- x, 257 pages; 21 cm
- Summary
- In I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying Bassey Bassey Ikpi explores her life--as a Nigerian-American immigrant, a black woman, a slam poet, a mother, a daughter, an artist--through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II and anxiety. Her remarkable memoir in essays implodes our preconceptions of the mind and normalcy as Bassey bares her own truths and lies for us all to behold with radical honesty and brutal intimacy. From her early childhood in Nigeria through her adolescence in Oklahoma, Bassey Ikpi lived with a tumult of emotions, cycling between extreme euphoria and deep depression--sometimes within the course of a single day. By the time she was in her early twenties, Bassey was a spoken word artist and traveling with HBO's Def Poetry Jam, channeling her life into art. But beneath the façade of the confident performer, Bassey's mental health was in a precipitous decline, culminating in a breakdown that resulted in hospitalization and a diagnosis of Bipolar II. In I'm Telling the Truth, But I'm Lying, Bassey Ikpi breaks open our understanding of mental health by giving us intimate access to her own. Exploring shame, confusion, medication, and family in the process, Bassey looks at how mental health impacts every aspect of our lives--how we appear to others, and more importantly to ourselves--and challenges our preconception about what it means to be "normal." Viscerally raw and honest, the result is an exploration of the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of who we are--and the ways, as honest as we try to be, each of these stories can also be a lie.
- Ikpi explores her life as a Nigerian-American immigrant, a black woman, a slam poet, a mother, a daughter, an artist-- all through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II and anxiety. From her early childhood in Nigeria through her adolescence in Oklahoma she lived with a tumult of emotions, cycling between extreme euphoria and deep depression-- sometimes within the course of a single day. In opening our understanding of mental health, Ikpi challenges our preconception about what it means to be "normal." -- adapted from page [i].
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Essays.
- Autobiographies.
- Biographies.
- Contents
- Portrait of a face at forty -- The first essay is to prove to you that I have a childhood -- When they come for me -- The hands that held me -- Young girls they do get weary -- Yaka -- Becoming a liar -- Tehuti -- The quiet before -- Take two for pain -- Like a war -- This is what happens -- What it feels like -- Beauty in the breakdown -- It has a name -- Side effects may include -- Life sentence -- As hopeless as smoke -- The day before -- We don't wear blues -- Some days are fine -- When we bleed -- Searching for magic.
- Call Number
- Sc D 19-925
- ISBN
- 9780062698346
- 0062698346
- OCLC
- 1101639650
- Author
- Ikpi, Bassey, author.
- Title
- I'm telling the truth, but I'm lying : essays / Bassey Ikpi.
- Publisher
- New York : Harper Perennial, [2019]
- Edition
- First edition.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Local Subject
- Black author.
- Research Call Number
- Sc D 19-925