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Somewhere along the line we started misinterpreting the First Amendment and this idea of the freedom of speech the amendment grants us. We are free to speak as we choose without fear of prosecution or persecution, but we are not free to speak as we choose without consequence.

Roxane Gay

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Roxane Gay
Age: 50
Born: 1974
Born: October 15
Essayist
Journalist
Novelist
Scrabble Player
Writer
Omaha
Nebraska
Fear
Line
Prosecution
Speak
Along
Amendment
Ideas
Choose
Persecution
Firsts
Started
Amendments
Without
Lines
Grants
First
Freedom
Consequence
Free
Somewhere
Idea
Speech

More quotes by Roxane Gay

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Twitter is my happy place. I am not there to overthink 140 characters.
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Diversity in literature is, in part, about representation - who is telling the stories and who stories are told about.
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I write for myself, first and foremost and I also write for people, mostly women, who just want to be seen and heard and all too often aren't.
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I am new to superhero comics, though growing up I read Archie comics, religiously. I've been doing a lot of catching up, reading what's out there and it's been wonderful to see what's going on in contemporary comics.
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I am human. I am messy. I'm not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I'm right. I am just trying - trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself.
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People do terrible things all the time, but we don’t regularly disown our humanity. We disavow the terrible things.
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It's gut instinct that helps me determine how to write a story. I love the surreal because I am faced with the challenge of making the unbelievable believable. That challenge is thrilling.
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I live in the middle of nowhere and I'm an insomniac. I just make the time and I read and write really fast so that makes a lot possible for me. I wish I had an explanation for it. I'm grateful for it.
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I read constantly because there is so much to learn from the writing in the world.
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If I cannot rest and relax, all the work I do is for naught.
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You don't necessarily have to do anything once you acknowledge your privilege. You don't have to apologize for it. You need to understand the extent of your privilege, the consequences of your privilege, and remain aware that people who are different from you move through and experience the world in ways you might never know anything about.
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Good fiction challenges us as much as it entertains and these days, we could do with both of these things.
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I can't please everyone. I am trying not to let the pressure consume me.
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I am interested in intense, unbreakable emotional connections and oftentimes, such connections can be found between siblings.
Roxane Gay
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The actual act of writing brings me such pleasure - to tell stories, to engage in cultural criticism, to reflect, to question, all of it is invigorating.
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I approach most things in life with a dangerous level of confidence to balance my generally low self-esteem.
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Some women being empowered does not prove the patriarchy is dead. It proves that some of us are lucky.
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We don't all have to believe in the same feminism. Feminism can be pluralistic so long as we respect the different feminisms we carry with us, so long as we give enough of a damn to try to minimize the fractures among us. Feminism will better succeed with collective effort, but feminist success can also rise out of personal conduct.
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I love writing fiction because I can totally lose myself and I get to make up the rules of the world that I'm writing.
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People of color are not under any kind of obligation beyond working hard, doing their best, and learning from their mistakes.
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