[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fazQ6EvAYf4d0Wb0JL21wT_0Sw8epIoTctT84bn2Cb3k":3,"$fkedVy2fOKIZr1wCjlUcF5_bA2K5KdbJSMhwasa5WcWY":20},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"bio_jsonld":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},15559,"Dorothy Allison","D",213,null,"dorothy-allison",[12,16],{"tag_id":13,"tag_name":14,"tag_count":15},60,"writing",22,{"tag_id":17,"tag_name":18,"tag_count":19},355,"lying",5,{"quotes":21,"pagination":87},[22,31,38,44,50,56,62,69,75,81],{"id":23,"quote_text":24,"author_id":5,"source_id":25,"has_image":26,"author":27,"source":28,"quote_tag":29,"commentary":30},3645657,"When I was growing up, I always read horror books, while my sister read romance novels. My sister became unmarried and pregnant during high school, and she kept saying, 'This wasn't supposed to happen! Why is this happening to me?' Someone should have given her another book to read.",7,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nDorothy Allison, an American novelist and essayist known for her unflinching portrayals of poverty, trauma, and female identity, wrote these words in her memoir \"Two or Three Things I Know for Sure\" (1995). The context of this quote reveals a childhood marked by the stark contrasts between Allison's own literary inclinations and those of her sister. During this period, Allison was grappling with the harsh realities of poverty and abuse in her family.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nAllison's comment is often misunderstood as a simplistic prescription for reading material to avoid life's hardships. However, upon closer inspection, it reveals a profound critique of societal expectations placed on women during that era. The tension lies in the assumption that certain outcomes (unmarried pregnancy) are not only undesirable but also inherently unforeseeable and uncontrollable, rather than acknowledging systemic factors at play.\n\n**How to Use This**\nTo apply Allison's insight today, professionals and creatives would do well to challenge the notion that adversity is an unpredictable inevitability. Instead, they should strive for a more nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between individual agency and structural circumstances. By doing so, they can begin to develop proactive strategies for mitigating risk and cultivating resilience in the face of uncertainty.",{"id":32,"quote_text":33,"author_id":5,"source_id":34,"has_image":26,"author":35,"source":36,"quote_tag":37,"commentary":9},2988308,"Men could do anything, and everything they did, no matter how violent or mistaken, was viewed with humor and understanding. The sheriff would lock them up for shooting out each other’s windows, or racing their pickups down the railroad tracks, or punching out the bartender over at the Rhythm Ranch, and my aunts would shrug and make sure the children were all right at home. What men did was just what men did. Some days I would grind my teeth, wishing I had been born a boy.",6,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":39,"quote_text":40,"author_id":5,"source_id":34,"has_image":26,"author":41,"source":42,"quote_tag":43,"commentary":9},2988302,"Every writing course I ever heard of said the same thing. Take one story, follow it through, beginning, middle, end. I don’t do that. I never do. Behind the story I tell is the one I don’t. Behind the story you hear is the one I wish I could make you hear.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":45,"quote_text":46,"author_id":5,"source_id":34,"has_image":26,"author":47,"source":48,"quote_tag":49,"commentary":9},2988299,"People pay for that they do, and still more, for what they have allowed themselves to become. And the pay for it simply: by the lives they lead. – James Baldwin.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":51,"quote_text":52,"author_id":5,"source_id":34,"has_image":26,"author":53,"source":54,"quote_tag":55,"commentary":9},2988296,"The world is a new place, but it still needs to be remade. We still need revolutionaries.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":57,"quote_text":58,"author_id":5,"source_id":34,"has_image":26,"author":59,"source":60,"quote_tag":61,"commentary":9},2988294,"In the worst moments of my life, I have told myself that story, the story about a girl who stood up to a monster.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":63,"quote_text":64,"author_id":5,"source_id":34,"has_image":26,"author":65,"source":66,"quote_tag":67,"commentary":68},2988291,"Every kid I meet who’s a reader has got something like that, their fantasy world. And science fiction is the best, especially for girls because it’s the one place where you can do the forbidden.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nDorothy Allison, a renowned American author known for her unflinching portrayals of the lives of marginalized women, likely penned this quote in the context of her own experiences as a reader and writer. Born in 1949, Allison grew up in a poverty-stricken family in South Carolina, where she found solace in reading and writing as a means of escape and self-expression. Her autobiographical novel \"Bastard Out of Carolina\" (1992) is a powerful testament to the transformative power of storytelling.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nAt first glance, this quote appears to be a straightforward endorsement of science fiction as a genre that empowers readers, particularly girls. However, upon closer examination, it reveals a more nuanced truth: that science fiction serves as a safe space for readers to explore and express forbidden desires, fantasies, and identities. This insight speaks to the tension between the desire for creative expression and the societal constraints that often prohibit it, highlighting the importance of finding subversive and liberating outlets for self-expression.\n\n**How to Use This**\nTo apply this mindset today, consider incorporating \"forbidden\" or unconventional themes and elements into your creative work, whether it's writing, art, or music. By embracing the freedom to explore and express your true desires, you can tap into a deeper well of creativity and produce work that is more authentic, innovative, and impactful.",{"id":70,"quote_text":71,"author_id":5,"source_id":34,"has_image":26,"author":72,"source":73,"quote_tag":74,"commentary":9},2988288,"I had to say to her that it isn’t just men, and it isn’t just men “like that.” I had to talk to her about the women I had found after I left home, women who breathed out hatred as steadily as the worst man we had ever known. I had to say that the world is a bigger, meaner, more complicated place than anyone ever told us, and the tools for dealing with it are real, but we have to invent them for ourselves, make them up as we go along.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":76,"quote_text":77,"author_id":5,"source_id":34,"has_image":26,"author":78,"source":79,"quote_tag":80,"commentary":9},2988285,"Before I published any of my own stories, I read a great many stories by people as passionate about writing as I was, and I learned something from everyone I read – something most important what I should not try to write.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":82,"quote_text":83,"author_id":5,"source_id":34,"has_image":26,"author":84,"source":85,"quote_tag":86,"commentary":9},2988283,"I say, “Talk to me. Tell me who you are, what you want, what you’ve never had, the story you’ve always been afraid to tell.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"currentPage":88,"totalPages":15,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":89},1,10]