I have never experienced racism in the feminist movement, so it concerned me to think that I was unable to see the subject clearly because I came from white, middle-class privilege.
So, when the discussion about not using the term feminist came up at a conference workshop, I couldn’t believe it. The more I listened, the more I felt the need to express my passion about my identity as a feminist.
Our stories are different; our pain is the same.
As you get older, your voice changes, as well. Your voice should be able to last as long as you last.
There’s a lot of maintenance that goes into being a professional singer.
The work that must be done for each woman to reconnect with her psyche and to give herself a chance to live her own life is essentially the same. The realization of the equality of all races, the equality of all beings is essential.
When there’s an opportunity to do more, we must.
Usually, I fly in the day before a concert so your voice can acclimate to the new environment.
We cant compare stories. We can only know in our hearts that we are the same. That may be the best we can do.
My two great loves are music and horses.
Well, the teacher I studied with for nineteen and a half years was a man named Paul Gavert. He was a great lieder singer, so basically Im a trained lieder singer because of that teacher. The teacher I currently study with – since 1995 – is Joan Lader, who also studied with Gavert.
I had no words for these feelings. And then people started using the word Ms. Suddenly, there was this handle with which I could identify myself and understand why I felt so out of whack with the culture around me.
If we’re for one another, we’re feminists. The rest is semantics.
I was hugely relieved to discover there was a purpose for girls with loud voices.
Feminism – the word – can give us a handle, a rallying point, a common ground, and help us build a bridge. Why not claim the gift of the word as a place to begin?
It was critical to finding a way out. I had assumed young women knew the history of feminism and must have felt gratitude to the movement for the opportunities that the work we have done has afforded them.
The word, and the concept of feminism, was a gift because it gave me a sense of identity and a way of defining how I wished to live my life.
Good performance is about the capacity to focus and concentrate.