Yesterday Barbara Kingsolver posted this photo and the italicized text on Instagram, along with a picture of fire. Her last paragraph is everything.
When I was 15, I put up this poster in my bedroom. Adults in my life had no idea “summer” was my code word for “freaking outrage.”
I was coming to understand how men ruled the world: that the ones who trash-talked, belittled, controlled and threatened us were likely to come out on top. I was hard pressed for reasons to keep going under that cold regime. I read a lot, found Lessing, Lorde, Friedan, de Beauvoir, and discovered a blazing heat that let me see in the dark.
I vowed to keep that fire as long as I needed it, because anger is an engine of resistance. Sometimes it’s just plain survival. It beats despair.
#stillhere
#stillmad
