Rebel Girls And Dirty Napkins

If I hadn’t pre-ordered the book like a year before it came out as a gift for my wife, this might have been all I needed to order it:

I don’t feel much like a “rebel girl”--most of the time I feel more like a dirty napkin. But “Dirty Napkin” is a terrible title for a book It’s also not who I am. 

I’m a feminist artist who navigates her way through difficult terrain. I’m a musician who felt like I’d achieved the highest honor imaginable when a woman told me she repeated lyrics I’d written in her head to get through a horrific rape trial. I’m a person who sang “Rebel Girl” in front of thousands of people buoyed by the thought of that woman, that woman, that woman. 

Even when you’re doing the work you know you need to do, you might still feel like a mess. 

Like a dirty napkin, as opposed to the rebellious leader you’re imagined to be.

But you press on. 

Because you have to. 

And maybe, at least in part, because they need you to, too.

This quote above is from the intro to Kathleen Hanna’s Rebel Girl: My Life As a Feminist Punk. Easily one of the best and hardest things I’ve read this summer. So much life, so much about making art that matters. 

MAKE ART THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS. 

That’s it. Go on now.