Combining feminist theories, X-Files fandom, and memoir, Enjoy Me among My Ruins draws together a kaleidoscopic archive of Juniper Fitzgerald’s experiences as a queer sex-working mother. Plumbing the major events that shaped her life, and interspersing her childhood letters written to cult icon Gillian Anderson, this experimental manifesto contends with dominant narratives placed upon marginalized people, ultimately rejecting a capitalist system that demands our purity and submission over our survival. Reviews: "A lyrical, innovative memoir about sex, parenting, and addiction." —Kirkus Reviews “This gorgeous memoir from Fitzgerald is a collage of the author’s most potent writing… equal parts rock 'n' roll and lyrical musings, with sharp, jagged truths and moments of gooey softness.” —Booklist “Fitzgerald creates an intimate and lyrical archive of the contents of her memory that, on the outset, seem somewhat disconnected but work together to form a holistic view of Fitzgerald’s experiences as a scorned child, a sexual assault survivor, a radical sex worker, a devoted mother, and a ‘monster.’” —Autostraddle "Experimental in the best way, connecting dots and drawing parallels that make for a stunning read." —them. “A short, sharp, experimental manifesto about motherhood, sex work, and addiction.” —Seven Stories “A sunrise seen from the roof of a Las Vegas apartment, a Midwestern field of hemlock, the low popcorn ceiling of a strip club, Enjoy Me among My Ruins takes us on a precise and devastating voyage through American spaces both familiar and hidden. It’s a lived-in brilliant book full of indelible, physical images that hold and enrich a theoretical analysis of work, sex, sex work, love, and community within a nation seemingly bent on punishment and annihilation. I am thankful this book exists while also wishing we did not live in a time and place where it felt so necessary.” —Joni Murphy, author of Talking Animals “Haunting and powerful, Enjoy Me among My Ruins traverses the American West and Midwest, conjuring the women and queers who have been forces in Fitzgerald’s life, and asking them to come along on her journey to destroy the contradictions of heteropatriarchy and dance upon its grave.” —Chris Belcher, author of Pretty Baby “Trust Juniper Fitzgerald to lead you through desert nights, early 2000s punk clubs, VIP rooms, childhood homes—and further, into a motley of emotion and memory. Fitzgerald knows complexity—and so she employs a mixture of the epistolary form, braided lyrical essay, allusion, stream-of-consciousness, and narrative storytelling. Enjoy Me among My Ruins revels in both experiential wisdom and craft.” —Amber Dawn, author of Sub Rosa “Enjoy Me among My Ruins weaves together streams of experience, exploration, nuance, rawness, trauma, and hope so fluidly that it becomes a powerful reminder of how interconnected they truly are. It is rare that we see a story of a mother, a sex worker, an academic, a vigilant survivor, an unbothered child ethnographer so seamlessly told in one breath. This book is the unvarnished poetry that we hope to write when we go to our journals.” —Kate D’Adamo, partner, Reframe Health and Justice Collective About the Author: Juniper Fitzgerald is a mother, sex worker, and academic based in the Midwest. Her children’s book, How Mamas Love Their Babies, was published by the Feminist Press in 2018 and was the first to feature a sex-working parent. Beyond her scholarly work, she has contributed to We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival and her writing has appeared in Tits and Sass, Mutha magazine, and the Rumpus. She holds a PhD in sociology and is a lifelong Gillian Anderson fan. |
