<p>In our seventh episode of the JUST THREE podcast, host Catherine LaSota talks with writer and musician George Estreich, who worked with Rachel Adams on the publication of Alison Piepmeier's book <em>Unexpected: Parenting, Prenatal Testing, and Down Syndrome</em> (NYU Press, February 2021), which was celebrated in a launch event hosted by the Motherhood & Technology working group at the Center for the Study of Social Difference.</p>
<p>In this conversation, George talks about his experience as a parent and a writer, how writing and social justice intersect (as well as the limitations of writing), and the challenges we face in a society where the performance of intellect becomes a method of evaluating worth.</p>
<p><a href="https://georgeestreich.com/">George Estreich</a>’s publications include a chapbook, <em>Elegy for Dan Rabinowitz </em>(Intertext, 1993) and a full-length poetry collection, <em>Textbook Illustrations of the Human Body, </em>which won the Gorsline Prize from Cloudbank Books (2003). <em>The Shape of the Eye </em>(SMU Press, 2011; Penguin, 2013)<em>, </em>his memoir about raising a daughter with Down syndrome, received the 2012 Oregon Book Award in Creative Nonfiction. Estreich has published essays and articles in <em>The New York Times, The Oregonian, Avidly, The American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, Salon, Tin House</em>, and <em>McSweeney’s Internet Tendency</em>. His recent book <em>Fables and Futures: Biotechnology, Disability, and the Stories we Tell Ourselves </em>(MIT Press, 2019) was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and was named a Best Science Book of 2019 by NPR's <em>Science Friday. Fables and Futures </em>explores the way we think and talk about human-directed biotechnology, from next-generation prenatal tests to CRISPR/Cas9, the genome-editing tool. Blending personal narrative and scholarship, Estreich argues that with biotech able to select and shape who we are, we need to imagine what it means to belong.</p>
<p>Learn more about George Estreich and his work here:<br>
<a href="https://georgeestreich.com/">https://georgeestreich.com/</a></p>
<p>More about Alison Piepmeier's book <em>Unexpected</em>, including a link to purchase from NYU Press, can be found here:<br>
<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479879953/unexpected/">https://nyupress.org/9781479879953/unexpected/</a></p>
<p>Learn more about the Motherhood & Technology working group here:<br>
<a href="https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/projects-/motherhood-and-technology">https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/projects-/motherhood-and-technology</a></p>
<p>Website of the Center for the Study of Social Difference: <a href="https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/</a></p>
<p>Music in our podcasts is by Blue Dot Sessions, and episodes are mixed by Craig Eley.</p>
<p>Catherine LaSota, host of the JUST THREE podcast, is Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University.</p>
