I think art is a healing force, and if we give in to the joy that can be found in art, then we are able to sustain ourselves in spite of ourselves.
Ntozake ShangeRead
Where there is a woman there is magic. If there is a moon falling from her mouth, she is a woman who knows her magic, who can share or not share her powers. A woman with a moon falling from her mouth, roses between her legs and tiaras of Spanish moss, this woman is a consort of the spirits.
Interpretation
This quote celebrates the mystical and powerful nature of women, emphasizing their unique strengths and abilities.
Ntozake Shange's quote reflects the idea that women possess an inherent magic and power, symbolized by imagery such as the moon and roses. It suggests that women have the ability to both wield and share their unique strengths, serving as a connection to the spiritual world, ultimately celebrating female empowerment and the beauty of womanhood.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech at a women's empowerment event.
I think art is a healing force, and if we give in to the joy that can be found in art, then we are able to sustain ourselves in spite of ourselves.
I write for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive. I can only change how they live, not how they think.
i usedta live in the world really be in the world free & sweet talkin good mornin & thank-you & nice day uh huh i cant now i cant be nice to nobody nice is such a rip-off regular beauty & a smile in the street is just a set-up
one thing I don’t need is any more apologies i got sorry greetin me at my front door you can keep yrs i don’t know what to do wit em they don’t open doors or bring the sun back they don’t make me happy or get a mornin paper didn’t nobody stop usin my tears to wash cars cuz a sorry.
The slaves who were ourselves had known terror intimately, confused sunrise with pain, & accepted indifference as kindness.
It still amazes and fascinates me that women of color have kept my work alive for these many generations.
Inspiring music may fill the soul with heavenly thoughts, move one to righteous action, or speak peace to the soul.
Even when I'm writing plays I enjoy having company and mentally I think of that company as the company I'm writing for.
I pride myself on working with great musicians.
Who are you, reader, reading my poems an hundred years hence? I cannot send you one single flower from this wealth of the spring, one single streak of gold from yonder clouds. Open your doors and look abroad. From your blossoming garden gather fragrant memories of the vanished flowers of an hundred years before. In the joy of your heart may you feel the living joy that sang one spring morning, sending its glad voice across a hundred years.
My mother likes what I cook, but doesn't think it's French. My wife is Puerto Rican and Cuban, so I eat rice and beans. We have a place in Mexico, but people think I'm the quintessential French chef.
I don't want to analyze myself or anything, but I think, in fact I know this to be true, that I enter the world through what I write. I grew up believing, and continue to believe, that I am a screw-up, that growing up with my family and friends, I had nothing to offer in any conversation. But when I started writing, suddenly there was something that I brought to the party that was at a high-enough level.
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