Sallie Tisdale is an American writer and essayist whose work has appeared in Harper’s, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Tricycle, among other magazines. She is the author of ten books, and winner of numerous literary awards. Earning a nursing degree in 1983 and writing in her off-hours from medical practice, her first book was on medical miracles (1986), her second on day to day life in a nursing home (1987), which was followed that year by an essay in Harper's on working in an abortion…