I have adored Queen Latifah ever since "Bringing Down the House," and probably well before. For her heart, strength, humor, obvious intelligence, talent on SO many levels, and her spectacular beauty that is the antithesis of petite, she is a role model who tells me to be myself even when a huge part of me wants to hide because I'm not the size zero I once was. My family placed far too much value on looks. It's been a battle to find the midlife value in my own heart and my own intelligence and my own voice. In a moment of false clarity, my weight can wash it all away. I'm five feet tall. It isn't difficult to simply look over me; to not see me at all.
This is my brain shit, not yours, and you probably have enough of your own shit and don't even think to look past. When I write, when I blog, I perceive that people recognize my intelligence and hear my voice first and, I pray, accept me for my heart before they see my size. Writing, posting is bliss because for the moment *I* can forget. I thought I was growing past it. But even among all of you, attending as a #BlogHer13 Voices of the Year Honoree, at times it was insurmountable to introduce myself. Before #BlogHer14, I will endeavor to stand proud, stick out my hand, to embrace all that I am, inside and out, to *believe* myself to be your peer, just as Queen Latifah tells me.
--Kim Jorgensen Gane
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