The piece I’m presenting tonight is not an apology,
it is the opposite.
It is loud,
it is fierce,
it is strong,
it is a piece of my story.
I am done apologizing for the space I take up,
for the ambition that I have,
for the art that I share
and for the gender that I am.
Society can shadow band me,
block me,
try to silence me out of fear,
but it will never undo the threads that weave my reason for existing.
Michelle Sorensen