Black Feminist Writing A Self-Food For Thought

Apparently, there will be days that I choose not to work on my thesis...this is one of those days. But, I do realize that I think about additions to my writing and possible ideas for my writing everyday. Today, a quote from Audre Lorde's essay "Eye to Eye" made me think about why I chose to write my thesis and an additional direction to take my thesis in. The quote is as follows: "Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me. I am who I am, doing what I came to do, acting upon you like a drug or a chisel to remind you of your me-ness, as I discover you in myself."(Lorde, Sister Outsider) The reasoning behind my thesis was to initially intrigue women to find a common ground and a sense of harmony in the writing that led me to my declaration of feminism. When I first read many of the words of bell hooks I realized that we had a lot in common. For example, her mother was very distant mentally from her as a child and my mother was distant physically. Initially, this distance leads to the same feelings of sadness and solitude. While bell hooks learned early to find comfort in her writing and no longer seemed to feel alone, I only recently became familiar with the cathartic abilities of writing. By writing I would really love to get to the point where I find solace in my solitude. I would like to feel comforted and warm when I am alone because I able to think and write, and just be me. I realize that this is a point I wish to reach so that nothing "I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me" like my loneliness. See I was sad when I was lonely, and that was in a way diminishing all that I was or I am to become because one never knows who they truly are unless they can be that way when they are alone. I realize that their are black girls and black women everywhere who yearn to find a common place to go where people do not judge them. I found this place within the narratives of the lives of Audre Lorde and bell hooks. Their writing for me is the chisel that reminds me of our sameness.