International Women’s Month wrapped up this week but the work and the learning never end.
Recently, I got to read my way through three memoirs with a strong throughline of women’s empowerment. Glennon Doyle’s Untamed, Chanel Miller’s Know My Name, and Tara Westover’s Educated all speak of such different life experiences but there are definitely common threads of overcoming trauma, finding one’s voice, and relearning how to live. And it doesn’t hurt that all three are fantastic writers.
📔 The story of Tara Westover growing up in a survivalist religious family with a strong paranoia against the government, public schools, and hospitals, Educated struck me as especially relevant right now. At a time where so many people are being lost to misinformation, it’s a reminder that people can leave, relearn, and find their own way, especially with patient teachers, helpers, and guides.
📕 Untamed was one essay after the next packed full of writing chops I’m frankly jealous of. While it covers an expansive set of things, one of my big takeaways was the value of raising kids in a way that honors their true selves.
📗 Know My Name felt so deeply personal-and it is that sort of book. It only adds to that effect that everything takes place in a younger person’s life in California and that Chanel Miller was a UCSB student around the same time I was. Her integration of the attack that happened to her added nuance to the way I think of victimhood and survivorship.