Of all the authors, poets, theologians, or other great thinkers that I have read in my lifetime, no one makes me feel more understood than Audre Lorde. I have found random bumper stickers (more than one) around my house with my favorite quote of hers, " Your silence will not protect you." Some days, I wonder if I can be more outspoken. I suppose this blog is even an attempt to make more of a voice for myself in this world. From Sister Outsider to Zami to The Erotic as Power, I can not get enough of her writings. She was born to humble beginnings in Harlem where she grew up and graduated high school. After graduating from Hunter College High School and experiencing the grief of her best friend Genevieve "Gennie" Thompson's death, Lorde immediately left her parents' home and became estranged from her family. She attended Hunter College from 1954 to 1959 and graduated with a bachelor's degree. While studying library science, Lorde supported herself by working various odd jobs such as factory worker, ghost writer (I didn't know she was a ghost writer!! More research needed!), social worker, X-ray technician, medical clerk, and arts and crafts supervisor, moving out of Harlem to Stamford, Connecticut and beginning to explore her lesbian sexuality. One of the things that endears me to Audre Lorde is that she made a way out of no ways. As I was reading over the life history of Adrienne Rich, it was a stark difference from the life of Audre Lorde. Where Rich had every priviledge available to her, including class, race, and wealth, Lorde still became a prolific writer, activist, and even found her way into higher education as a professor at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. For Lorde, the way was not easy.Lorde's tenacity to bring the fullness of womanhood from its multivalent perspectives is what makes her most accessible for me. Her ability to talk about race, gender, sexuality, class, health, and even motherhood is an example of how she unrelentingly brought her full self-her full experience, even, to her writing.I could go on... for many more pages. However, I do have a family and a life to live out here in the world. I will do my best to live fully today--in honor of Audre Lorde.
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DawnWomen's history geek, mom, lesbian, theologian, dreamer. Archives
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