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125 reviews for:
Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real about Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America
Amy Reed, Julie Murphy
4.13 AVERAGE
125 reviews for:
Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real about Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America
Amy Reed, Julie Murphy
4.13 AVERAGE
4.5 Stars
Written in response to the 2016 election, these authors share their personal experiences, fears, and ways they continue to find strength and hope. Brandy Colbert’s powerful essay delves into our nation’s shameful history of racism that still permeates society and explores her intersectional experience as a black female - it is both moving and enlightening. Maureen Goo tackles the power of rage and fighting back in her raw, cutting essay.
Julie Murphy’s inspiring essay sees her embracing her fatness and using it to fuel her activism.
Aisha Saeed’s entry that details the openly accepted bigotry she faced after the 2016 election will infuriate you, but her ability to accept that only she can define who she is and her determination to persist will embolden you. This collection has a strong leftist and feminist bent, and is filled with stories that will resonate with women across the country (both young and old). A recommended read, but schools in more conservative communities should be aware of, and prepared for, potential challenges.
Written in response to the 2016 election, these authors share their personal experiences, fears, and ways they continue to find strength and hope. Brandy Colbert’s powerful essay delves into our nation’s shameful history of racism that still permeates society and explores her intersectional experience as a black female - it is both moving and enlightening. Maureen Goo tackles the power of rage and fighting back in her raw, cutting essay.
Julie Murphy’s inspiring essay sees her embracing her fatness and using it to fuel her activism.
Aisha Saeed’s entry that details the openly accepted bigotry she faced after the 2016 election will infuriate you, but her ability to accept that only she can define who she is and her determination to persist will embolden you. This collection has a strong leftist and feminist bent, and is filled with stories that will resonate with women across the country (both young and old). A recommended read, but schools in more conservative communities should be aware of, and prepared for, potential challenges.
Our experiences matter. Our voices matter. And the deafening silence that protects those who have violated us must be broken. (131)
This anthology is such an important gathering of voices and I'm so glad that it exists. It isn't perfect by any means, and some of the essays are better written than others. But this book is about empowering women to speak up about their own experiences, and no one's experience is inconsequential. What might not speak to one person might be crucial representation for someone else. Amy Reed did an excellent job of gathering ethnically, religiously, and sexually diverse writers.
Never dismiss your own perspectives. Never question the validity of life in the margins. (50)
Some quick improvements to Our Stories, Our Voices would have been inclusion of trans and nonbinary voices, which the editor Amy Reed acknowledges in her introduction. Acknowledging it doesn't fix the problem, however. I also question the inclusion of one of the essays in particular, which was by a big name but non-marginalized author (with a questionable history of representing diverse experiences) which was simply not well-written besides. Having this essay swapped with one written by a non-cis author would have gone a long ways towards perfecting this collection. I also wish so many of these essays didn't focus on Trump's election specifically-- not that this isn't an timely topic, but it will date the book and it also gives off the impression that the current administration is causing a lot of America's current troubles, rather than being a symptom of the larger, ongoing problems. Most of my favorite essays were about more encompassing issues and barely mentioned Trump, if at all.
These boys are a symptom of a much bigger problem, of a society that does not teach its boys to truly understand what consent is. [...]I forgive those boys now, so many years later. But I do not forgive the society that created them. (29)
Speaking of, my favorite essays from this collection were (roughly in order):
➼ "Myth Making: In the Wake of Hardship" by Somaiya Daud, about seeking and creating non-white representation in fantasy literature, about Islamophobia in the wake of 9/11, about the varied and overlapping and contradictory mess of identities inside us all, and about having hope for the future rather than longing for nostalgic "greater times" past.
➼ "Unexpected Pursuits: Embracing My Idigeneity & Creativity" by Christine Day, about pursuing passions rather than expectations and connecting to Native heritage.
➼ "In Our Genes" by Hannah Moskowitz, about standing on the shoulders of past activists, learning to be better than our foremothers, and teaching the next generation to better than us.
➼ "Trumps and Trunchbulls" by Alexandra Duncan, about gaslighting and the invisible invalidations women face in (Christian) American culture.
➼ "Dreams Deferred and Other Explosions" by Ilene Wong (I.W.) Gregorio, about racism, subverting stereotypes, and what living as a "model minority" in America is like.
➼ "What I've Learned About Silence" by Amber Smith, about how abuse and shame thrive in silence, and about "victim" being just as important and relevant a term as "survivor."
➼ "Fat and Loud" by Julie Murphy, about politics being forcibly thrust upon her by virtue of merely existing in her body, and about the limitations we place on what fat girls are allowed to be/do/feel.
➼ "Finding My Feminism" by Amy Reed, about the fact that coercion isn't consent, about victim-blaming and the way rape culture thrives in silence.
[O]ne thing I have learned beyond all doubt is that silence is the driving force behind ... so much of the pain and ugliness and disconnection in our world today. And this is no accident. This happens specifically because our voices are the most powerful thing we have, and that is why others will immediately and frantically try to take our voices away by any means possible. [...]Change happens when we speak up and when we listen, when we have empathy and compassion, when we stand up and empower ourselves and others. (268-9)
These essays are brave, and raw, and personal, and political. They break the cone of silence around certain topics that keep these experiences shrouded in secrecy and shame. They speak truth about the lives of marginalized people who are often presented as caricatures if they're represented at all. In short, while not a perfect collection, Our Stories, Our Voices is nonetheless an extremely important one.
No single one of us is going to save the world. But all of us might. (101)
This is a book in which everyone should read at least once. It definitely helped me feel more connected to my female counterparts. Our Stories, Our Voices is the best response to the 2016 election results that I have ever seen. It is definitely my new favorite book of personal essays.
Stories like these help us to know we're not alone in this great big world. These authors are brave and share worthwhile stories.
An outstanding collection of essays about feminism, about activism, and about growing up being female in the US. The voices here are authentic, showcasing not only feelings and experiences, but the ways in which these women have chosen activism that works for them. Standouts in this collection include Brandy Colbert's essay about learning the racist history that changed her home town from one with a larger black population to one where she was one of few black people in her school, Maurene Goo's piece about the way she uses her anger to fuel her, Julie Murphy's essay about why being fat meant she was political whether she chose to act on it or not, and the piece that closes this book by a new author, Tracy Deonn Walker, about the way other people put expectations on her as a black girl and how she uses art to fight back.
Not all of the essays will resonate with all readers, but that's the greatness of an anthology. Some pieces didn't do much for me, but I also know they'll work for other readers.
There is one glaring omission in the collection worth noting: there are no voices of trans women here. We have acknowledgement of trans women throughout, but, it is disappointing not to see their voices in here alongside these other women. Anna-Marie McLemore talks about her husband, who is trans, but it's still not a specific experience of being a trans woman.
Pass this along to readers who want a book about the current political climate -- most talk about the election (which, admittedly, gets tiring after a while, but if you don't read this in a single sitting, will not grow as tiring) -- and a book about being a girl in modern America. These women span all backgrounds, ethnicities, races, sexualities, and religions, and those intersections are emphasized. For readers who enjoy my own HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD, this would pair really nicely with it.
Not all of the essays will resonate with all readers, but that's the greatness of an anthology. Some pieces didn't do much for me, but I also know they'll work for other readers.
There is one glaring omission in the collection worth noting: there are no voices of trans women here. We have acknowledgement of trans women throughout, but, it is disappointing not to see their voices in here alongside these other women. Anna-Marie McLemore talks about her husband, who is trans, but it's still not a specific experience of being a trans woman.
Pass this along to readers who want a book about the current political climate -- most talk about the election (which, admittedly, gets tiring after a while, but if you don't read this in a single sitting, will not grow as tiring) -- and a book about being a girl in modern America. These women span all backgrounds, ethnicities, races, sexualities, and religions, and those intersections are emphasized. For readers who enjoy my own HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD, this would pair really nicely with it.
This is without a doubt one of the most incredible sets of stories I have read in a long time. Anthologies are a hit or miss depending on how the editors and publisher organize the stories. "Our Stories" was wonderfully organized and captured some truly heart-wrenching and inspirational stories. I learned a lot of new things about the women around me and about my own perspectives. I can only hope to introduce this to my students this year.
I wish I had read this book in 2018 when it was first released. There were so many things I learned from this very diverse group of authors, and things that I related to more than I thought possible. This is the type of book girls and women should read if your looking for someone to understand an experience you’ve gone through. If you need someone to say me too. This book covers all different topics and struggles that women have and are facing in our society.
emotional
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced