by Sarah Blustain

How Did They Get Into Her Womb?

Healing: A young woman's loss becomes art

In an old-fashioned coffee shop in midtown Manhattan, documentary filmmaker Judith Helfand stops mid-sentence in the story of her DES-related cancer, laughing. Her forkful of chicken has just flown to the floor.

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Is Our Suffering Transformative?

The articles in this special section:

Broken Tablets/ Scattered Light

by Tamara M. Green

"Everywhere I read that we are created in God’s image. What about me? Does God also walk with crutches, have difficulty breathing? Why did God do such a lousy job with my body?" One professor asks the questions; Rachel Naomi Remen and Rabbi Shoni Labovitz offer partial answers.

Bathing Pearl

fiction by Shelly R. Fredman

Eldercare: A granddaughter moves from hostility to love.

How Did They Get Into Her Womb?

by Sarah Blustain

Judith Helfand lost her reproductive system at 25 thanks to the "wonder drug" her mother took while pregnant. As "A Healthy Baby Girl"—Helfand’s startling film about being a DES daughter—heads to the Sundance Festival, Helfand talks about her mom, her politics and the community of filmmakers who’ve helped her heal.

Sacrifice

fiction by Batya Swift Yasgur

Healing : A survivor' s guilt becomes peace