Untamed

Whenever I see a little girl wearing complicated braids, I think: She looks well loved. She looks well mothered. She looks like a little girl whose mother knows what she’s doing. Who once was a teenage girl who knew what she was doing, who had lots of friends in high school, who all sat around and braided each other’s hair and giggled. Who was Gold

For every woman resurrecting herself. For the girls who will never be buried.

We can do hard things.”

The opposite of sensitive is not brave. It’s not brave to refuse to pay attention, to refuse to notice, to refuse to feel and know and imagine. The opposite of sensitive is insensitive, and that’s no badge of honor.

I was born a little broken, with an extra dose of sensitivity. —SOME HORSESHIT I WROTE ABOUT MYSELF IN MY FIRST MEMOIR

Why do women find it honorable to dismiss ourselves? Why do we decide that denying our longing is the responsible thing to do? Why do we believe that what will thrill and fulfill us will hurt our people? Why do we mistrust ourselves so completely?

there is a critical step between vision and reality.

whenever uncertainty rises, I sink.

no one else in the world knows what I should do.