Favorite Quotes:
“When humans are ranked instead of linked, everyone loses.â€
“What we’re told about this country is way too limited by generalities, sound bites, and even the supposedly enlightened idea that there are two sides to every question. In fact, many questions have three or seven or a dozen sides.â€
“Decisions are best made by the people affected by them.â€
“We might have known sooner that the most reliable predictor of whether a country is violent within itself—or will use military violence against another country—is not poverty, natural resources, religion, or even degree of democracy; it’s violence against females. It normalizes all other violence.â€
I was angry because young men in politics were treated like rising stars, but young women were treated like – well, young women. I was angry about all the women candidates who put their political skills on hold to raise children – and all the men male candidates who didn’t. I was angry about human talent that was lost just because it was born into a female body, and the mediocrity that was rewarded because it was born into a male one.â€
“…One of the simplest paths to deep change is for the less powerful to speak as much as they listen, and for the more powerful to listen as much as they speak.â€
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My take: The last quote sums up what you will read in My Life on the Road, much less a memoir than a look at who Steinhem listened to along the 80+ year journey that has shaped her view of the world. She lifts the voices of women young and old, people of color, immigrants, truck drivers, taxi drivers, hell’s angels, and many many others. I am grateful that she’s shared these people with the world and keeps fighting for their voices to be heard.
Related links:
Emma Watson has a feminist book club and you should join here.
Gloria Steinem on NPR talking about her life on the road here or below.