If you can’t change reality, change your perceptions of it.
What I leave behind has a life of its own.
We must constantly encourage ourselves and each other to attempt the heretical actions that our dreams imply and so many of our old ideas disparage.
Anger is loaded with information and energy.
Anger, used, does not destroy. Hatred does.
I am a reflection of my mother’s secret poetry as well as of her hidden angers.
I am a post-mastectomy woman who believes our feelings need voice in order to be recognized, respected, and of use.
I have died too many deaths that were not mine.
There are many lesbians and gay men trapped by their fear into silence and invisibility, and they exist in a dim valley of terror wearing nooses of conformity.
Next time, ask: What’s the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare.
I believe one of the hardest things you can do is conquer your fears, but if you have a goal, then it’s your job to open up and let it be real no matter how scary it seems.
Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action.
Every woman I have ever known has made a lasting impression on my soul.
If our history has taught us anything, it is that action for change directed against the external conditions of our oppressions is not enough.
When I hear the deepest truths I speak coming out of my mouth sounding like my mother’s, even remembering how I fought against her, I have to reassess both our relationship as well as the sources of my knowing.
In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change.
The fear that we cannot grow beyond whatever distortions we may find within ourselves keeps us docile and loyal and obedient, externally defined, and leads us to accept many facets of our own oppression as women.
When you are a member of an out-group, and you challenge others with whom you share this outsider position to examine some aspect of their lives that distorts differences between you, then there can be a great deal of pain.
Guilt and defensiveness are bricks in a wall against which we all flounder; they serve none of our futures.
We cannot settle for the pretenses of connection, or for the parodies of self-love.