Dese'Rae L. Stage

About

My name is Dese’Rae L. Stage, and I'm a photographer, writer, and suicide awareness advocate. I'm a survivor of nine years of self-injury, as well as a suicide attempt catalyzed by an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. It was these experiences that spurred the creation of Live Through This in Fall 2010.

I am trained in crisis intervention and hold a BS in Psychology from East Tennessee State University. And the camera? Taught myself. My writing has been published by Huff Post TED Weekends, xoJane, Yahoo!, and Cosmopolitan.

Live Through This has been featured in the New York Times, Associated Press, Curve Magazine, and WBEZ/NPR, among others. I've provided commentary for the Glenn Beck Program, BBC World Have Your Say, and HuffPost Live. I've spoken about the project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at Austin, and various professional conference.

I live in Brooklyn, NY with my fiancée. You can see more of my work at deseraestage.com.

Location

Brooklyn, NY, USA

Following3 Creators

Live Through This: Alissa Orber

September 30, 2015 21:54:29

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Live Through This: Alissa Orber

Alissa Orber is a comedian in Los Angeles. She was 28 when I interviewed her in Brooklyn, NY, on March 10, 2014.

Here's a snippet from her interview:

Des: Do you address this kind of subject matter in your comedy?

Alissa: I don't, really. The thing is, sometimes it depends on the crowd. A lot of people get super uncomfortable when you talk about it... I feel like this is something that we have to deal with, [but] people don't really react favorably to it, so I don't address it that much. I do address my feelings of inadequacy in comedy. Basically, my comedy is me getting up there and talking about how awful I am, and hoping that people laugh at it, and it seems to have been going over pretty well so far.

Des: Does it make you feel better?

Alissa: Yeah!

Des: Tell me more about comedians and depression, or alcoholism, or suicide.

Alissa: Well, comedy... A sense of humor, in itself, is a defense mechanism. My defense mechanism is just more palatable than [some] other people's. It's something you can make money off of, honestly. I think, with a defense mechanism like that, I got it from feeling neglected as a child, being bullied. It's a defense mechanism that people who've not had it so well usually develop, and therefore they're already prone to depression. I think that's really a big part of it.

Also, I think you have to be smart to be funny, and people who are smart are usually miserable. I just read somewhere that people with higher IQs are generally pretty miserable. I get it. When you know what's going on, it's kind of depressing.

Luckily, I never developed any real addictions to anything, but that is common in comedy, as well—alcoholism, drug use. There's just that need to disconnect from how depressed you are.

You can read the rest of her story over on the website.

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