A Tribute to Carrie Fisher

Written by Kristy Dolson

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are enjoying the vacation/desk-warming season. I do not know about you, but ever since Carrie Fisher’s passing on December 27, 2016, this time of year has left me with a sense of grief. And so this January, to honor her legacy, I would like to review her memoir, Wishful Drinking. Even though her death was sudden and tragic, this memoir is delightful and hilarious – just like her.

Wishful Drinking contains selected episodes from Fisher’s childhood and adult life. These highlight her early family struggles (an absent and scandalous father) and her later addiction problems, but they are infused with the humor of hindsight. It was written after she underwent electroconvulsive therapy, a treatment made necessary by her bipolar disorder and manic-depression. She was encouraged to write down her memories after the procedure to help maintain her identity. It shows us a woman who struggled with substance abuse for years before her diagnosis. And even with a diagnosis, she did not always get the correct treatment. She was a survivor, although she herself never really embraced the title. Her memoir stands as a powerful call for compassion and love.

In a world that still treats mental illness as taboo, Carrie Fisher stood up as an outspoken advocate for mental health awareness. She was a complex woman, and I did not know her full story. I had a vague understanding that her parents were famous and that she fell into alcohol and drug addiction after she herself became famous, but otherwise she was just Princess Leia to me. When she returned to the character for Star Wars Episode VII, I became better acquainted with her. While watching interviews for the movie, I realized that she was an inspiring and brilliantly funny woman. I discovered that she was not just an iconic princess from a galaxy far, far away, but also one of the few celebrities who had been actively speaking up about mental health and lifting the stigma surrounding it. During her career, she reached thousands of people with her message that there is no shame in having a chronic brain illness. People everywhere looked to her for inspiration and strength, as a role model and champion.

She may have gotten her start as a princess in distress, but Fisher became so much more than that. Since her death, her image has become part of the Me Too movement, and she continues to inspire men and women struggling with bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression. If you, like me, are feeling her loss, then it is a small but powerful consolation that she left several books behind for us, Wishful Drinking being just one of them. Written with her voice and trademark sense of morbid humor, this memoir radiates with her strength, wit, and wisdom.

Last year was a bit of a roller coaster for me personally and professionally. Despite a number of lows, I attribute my successes to my own ability to find humor in bleak and/or stressful situations. Comedy has always been an outlet for me, and I greatly appreciate it in others. Carrie Fisher left us too soon, taking her unique voice with her, but she spent the later years of her life urging other voices to speak up. This year it is my resolution to bring a diverse range of voices to your attention.

So here is hoping 2019 is smoother than 2018. Best of luck! I hope none of us drown in moonlight, strangled by our own bras!

The Author

Kristy Dolson lived in South Korea for five years before taking a year off to travel, read and spend time with her family in Canada and Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Education and has just returned to Gwangju where she splits her time between teaching at the new Jeollanamdo International Education Institute and reading as much as she can.