Activist: Portraits of Courage

When I saw Activists: Portraits of Courage (Chronicle Books, 9781452182773, 2019) by KK Ottesen on Goodreads Giveaway list I was beyond excited. I did not think I was going to win, but I hoped and hoped. When I won I was beyond excited.

I waited for the book to come in the mail and when it arrived it took everything in me not to rip open the packaging. Here it was. I sat down and flipped open the book and the first story it opened to was a rainbow story. How apropos.

Natalie Maines tells her story and as most transgender kids will tell you - it is never a pretty one. Maines is now playing a superhero on television's Super Girl. It is is not her words though that have stayed with me, but her father's:

“...the real superheroes are the trans kids who get out of bed every day knowing they're going to have a bad day.”

I have had this book for a couple of months because to be honest, for me, this was not a book to just breeze through and write a review. This is a conversation piece. These stories are journeys of the past and present - not just journeys but lessons.

Ottesen does full profiles and in-depth thoughts and quotes as to the hows and whys everyday people and some famous ones too decided to fight for us - all of us.

You know me by now, I wanna have multiple dinner parties and pick a random story and have a conversation. Do you want to be inspired? Do you want to have a conversation? Do you want to see where we came from? Do you want to see where we are going?

Read Activist.

I received this book for free in a Goodreads Giveaway and give my opinion without prejudice and voluntarily.