Jessica

“The losses that I have experienced on this journey of finding my voice have been just as instructive to me as the books I’ve read, the seminars I’ve attended, and any other means of knowledge acquisition I’ve engaged in. The difficult road I traveled has led me exactly where I needed to be exactly when I needed to be there. I don’t know if I will ever stop grieving certain losses, but I do know that those losses and their accompanying grief are tools I have used to stage my own liberation. You can use the ashes you hold from your grief to paint a beautiful picture of life and liberation.”
― Ally Henny, I Won't Shut Up: Finding Your Voice When the World Tries to Silence You

“Freedom that is gained at another person’s expense isn’t freedom; it is just diverted oppression. A lot of people who say they want freedom really just want to cosplay as oppressors by excluding and harming the people they believe are beneath them. We don’t get free by lording our power over others. Freedom is a collective endeavor that requires us to imagine a different world than the one we presently inhabit. As we imagine freedom, it is critical that we imagine freedom for all people.”
― Ally Henny, I Won't Shut Up: Finding Your Voice When the World Tries to Silence You

“When you raise a kid, it’s so easy to fuck up,” Erin said. “You don’t mean to, but you do. I can’t always control whether or not I do right by her. But in this I can. She feels bad, and I can make it a little better. She deserves so much more, but this I can do.”
― Meryl Wilsner, Mistakes Were Made

“In the advocacy circles I run in, we talk a lot about going where you’re celebrated and not merely tolerated. We talk a lot about identifying and leaving places where you are unable to flourish. We talk about divesting from unjust systems, decentering whiteness, and decolonizing our minds. I don’t think we talk enough about the losses that come with doing those things.”
― Ally Henny, I Won't Shut Up: Finding Your Voice When the World Tries to Silence You