In the family, writing wasn't anything anyone understood - being a writer in the real world? How could it be? We didn't have those mirrors.
Interpretation
Writing was not understood or valued within the speaker's family dynamics.
Jacqueline Woodson reflects on the struggles of being a writer in an environment where that profession is not seen as legitimate or understandable. The quote highlights the disconnect between the personal passion for writing and the familial lack of support or comprehension, suggesting a longing for validation and the desire for recognition of oneβs artistic identity.
In practice
In a speech about pursuing one's passion, this quote can illustrate the barriers artists face in unappreciative environments.
'Brown Girl Dreaming' was a book I had a lot of doubts about - mainly, would this story be meaningful to anyone besides me? My editor, Nancy Paulsen, kept assuring me, but there were moments when I was in a really sad place with the story for so many reasons. It wasn't an easy book to write - emotionally, physically, or creatively.
In the midst of observing the world and coming to consciousness, I was becoming a writer, and what I wanted to put on the page were the stories of people who looked like me.
Sometimes you do have to laugh to keep from crying. And sometimes the world feels all right and good and kind of like it's becoming nice again around you. And you realize it, and realize how happy you are in it, and you just gotta laugh.
I don't want anyone to walk through the world feeling invisible ever again.
The strength of my mother is something I didn't pay attention to for so long. Here she was, this single mom, who was part of the Great Migration, who was part of a Jim Crow south, who said, 'I'm getting my kids out of here. I'm creating opportunities for these young people by any means necessary.'
I would have written 'Brown Girl Dreaming' if no one had ever wanted to buy it, if it went nowhere but inside a desk drawer that my own children pulled out one day to find a tool for survival, a symbol of how strong we are and how much we've come through.
If you lose a parent, it never goes away. As a kid, I dreamed about my father coming back for 15 or 20 years. I still do sometimes.
Being a housewife and a mother is the biggest job in the world, but if it doesn't interest you, don't do it - I would have made a terrible mother.
If I do my job well, then God will smile on my offspring and on their offspring. I'm sure my father is seeing a blessing in me.
Tying the little folks with the older folks is a great and powerful tool to preserve and to protect the family and the individual.
Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation
To go to the synagogue with one's father on the Passover eve - is there in the world a greater pleasure than that? What is it worth to be dressed in new clothes from head to foot, and to show off before one's friends? Then the prayers themselves - the first Festival evening prayer and blessing.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.