Vena, when I'm reading your work, I often want to comment, and then find myself thinking I should probably shut up and sit down for a bit. So on one hand I want to reach out and say "hell yes" but on the other hand, I start second-guessing myself, questioning what I'm about to say and why, and then ultimately (most of the time) deciding to stay quiet. A lot of the time, I want to share common ground, and while that might be ok, I also think sometimes you don't need to hear yet another thing from yet another person who looks like me. I don't think it's a bad thing that I've stayed quiet a bit, and instead just clapped for your work, because it's me saying "I don't need to be the one talking all the time". (I'm an introvert in person, but not so much on paper.)

But I'm chiming in now because I want you to know how amazing you are, and how I have watched your writing become this crazy, fire-honed sword. Your words are powerful and I am continually learning from them.

Also - my father, who would have been 89 this summer (I can always remember because he turned 40 just two weeks before I was born) is one of the only people I've ever known who actually got more liberal as he got older. It made me so happy that my formerly-Republican dad, who admittedly voted for Nixon (TWICE, ugh!), helped elect and re-elect our first Black president. He engaged in some incredible and illuminating conversations with his far-more-liberal daughters before he died, and over the years, he allowed the small college town where he settled in the late 60s to rub off on him for the better.

Anyway, thank you for your work and your words.