Fairy tales were not my escape from reality as a child; rather, they were my reality–for mine was a world in which good and evil were not abstract concepts, and like fairy-tale heroines, no magic would save me unless I had the wit and courage to use it widely. –Terri Windling
A child who can love the oddities of a fantasy book cannot possibly be xenophobic as an adult. What is a different color, a different culture, a different tongue for a child who has already mastered Elvish, respected Puddlegums, or fallen under the spell of dark-skinned Ged? –Jane Yolen
I fly the American flag in front of my house to remind me of the radical freedoms I have as a U.S. citizen. As an American woman, seeing the flag as […]
Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: “You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination….what you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be….Those of you who are more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself…those that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being molded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society.” -Doris Lessing
No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens. -Michelle Obama
Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such repose do we find truth. – Madeleine L’Engle
I paint as a way of looking for myself in the world. – Amy Sherald
You can’t sit around and wait for somebody to say who you are. You need to write it and paint it and do it. – Faith Ringgold
You don’t exist if you’re not represented… I felt a need to claim my own social existence by making the representation happen. – Njideka Akunyili Crosby
My photojournal entries for the last nine days show how even when I resist the urge to amass a caterpillar condominium of mesh enclosures filled with monarchs and milkweed, I still get […]
