wlotus | Silence Is Golden. I, However, Am A Rich Ebony

The white western patriarchal ordering of things requires that we believe there is an inherent conflict between what we feel and what we think--between poetry and theory. We are easier to control when one part of our selves is split from another, fragmented, off balance. There are other configurations, however, other ways of experiencing the world, though they are often difficult to name.

~ Nancy K. Bereano, in her introduction to Audre Lorde's Sister Outsider

And [speaking] is never without fear; of visibility, of the harsh light of scrutiny and perhaps judgment, of pain, of death. But we have lived through all of those already, in silence, except death. And I remind myself all the time now, that if I were to have been born mute, and had maintained an oath of silence my whole life for safety, I would still have suffered, and I would still die. It is very good for establishing perspective.

~ Audre Lorde, "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action"

Thank you, mage_girl and rockbirthedme. I am ready to begin talking, again.