In All The Years I've Been A

All Feelings Are Acceptable, But All Behavior Isn't.

I Think Anorexia Is A Metaphor. It Is A Young Woman's Statement That She Will Become What The Culture Asks Of Its Women, Which Is That They Be Thin And Nonthreatening. Anorexia Signifies That A Young Woman Is So Delicate That, Like The Women Of China With Their Tiny Broken Feet, She Needs A Man To Shelter And Protect Her From A World She Cannot Handle. Anorexic Women Signal With Their Bodies "i Will Take Up Only A Small Amount Of Space. I Won't Get In The Way." They Signal "i Won't Be Intimidating Or Threatening." (who Is Afraid Of A Seventy-pound Adult?)

Girls Developed Eating Disorders When Our Culture Developed A Standard Of Beauty That They Couldn't Obtain By Being Healthy. When Unnatural Thinness Became Attractive, Girls Did Unnatural Things To Be Thin.

We Live In A World Filled With Language. Language Imparts Identity, Meaning, And Perspective To Our Human Community. Writers Are Either Polluters Or Part Of The Clean-up Team. Just As The Language Of Power And Greed Has The Potential To Destroy Us, The Language Of Reason And Empathy Has The Power To Save Us. Writers Can Inspire A Kinder, Fairer, More Beautiful World, Or Invite Selfishness, Stereotyping, And Violence. Writers Can Unite People Or Divide Them.

True Freedom Has More To Do With Following The North Star Than Going Whichever Way The Wind Blows. Sometimes It Seems Like Freedom Is Blowing With The Winds Of The Day, But That Kind Of Freedom Is Really An Illusion. It Turns Your Boat In Circles. Freedom Is Sailing Toward Your Dreams.