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4.59 AVERAGE
4.59 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
A vital essay collection that feels just as relevant today as it did in the 70s and 80s.
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
This was a slow read for me. In fact I half listened and half read and neither way really connected with me. The content is great and much of what Lorde talks about in the 70s and 80s is still so incredibly relevant. I could see so much of course current thinking on race class gender sexuality etc in her words. She was obviously a major influence on these types of discourses. I’m glad to have read the work but I was not moved deeply by it.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A must read. Audre Lorde is beyond talented. Her writing is so powerful, moving, and beautiful. Brought me to tears.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Racism
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
Wonderful collection of essays on a wide range of topics. This was my first reading of Lorde's prose/essays, and it was a really nice introduction to the breadth of her writing, both in terms of the types of pieces and the topics she turned her gaze on. I found myself highlighting a lot, as she so beautifully expressed thoughts about anger, guilt, intersectionality, and the power of women and people of color. Some of my favorite sentences...
From: The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism
"I cannot hide my anger to spare you guilt, nor hurt feelings, nor answering anger; for to do so insults and trivializes all our efforts. Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one's own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness."
"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own."
From: Learning from the 60s
"Revolution is not a one-time event. It is becoming always vigilant for the smallest opportunity to make a genuine change in established, outgrown responses; for instance, it is learning to address each other's differences with respect."
From: The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism
"I cannot hide my anger to spare you guilt, nor hurt feelings, nor answering anger; for to do so insults and trivializes all our efforts. Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one's own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness."
"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own."
From: Learning from the 60s
"Revolution is not a one-time event. It is becoming always vigilant for the smallest opportunity to make a genuine change in established, outgrown responses; for instance, it is learning to address each other's differences with respect."
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced