Know My Name: A Memoir

by Chanel Miller

This book does not have a happy ending. The happy part is there is no ending, because I’ll always find a way to keep going.

The next day, Mid-Autumn Festival, my mom’s mom passed away in China. I thought of the two things she would say every time I visited, You have pretty dimples! And huge feet! Her grandma’s feet had been bound. Four-inch feet, and now mine, size 9½. Every generation, we get a little more free.

gone, there will be nothing to stop us. We will not stand by as our mouths are covered, bodies entered. We will speak, we will speak, we will speak.

Do not become the ones who hurt you. Stay tender with your power. Never fight to injure, fight to uplift. Fight because you know that in this life, you deserve safety, joy, and freedom. Fight because it is your life. Not anyone else’s.

It’s like if you were to read an article where a car was hit, and found dented, in a ditch. But maybe the car enjoyed being hit. Maybe the other car didn’t mean to hit it, just bump it up a little bit. Cars get in accidents all the time, people aren’t always paying attention, can we really say who’s at fault.

What were you wearing?

before he had me half naked on the ground. Future reference, if you are confused about whether a girl can consent, see if she can speak an entire sentence. You couldn’t even do that. Just one coherent string of words. If she can’t do that, then no. Not maybe, just no.

You realize, having a drinking problem is different than drinking and then forcefully trying to have sex with someone? Show men how to respect women, not how to drink less.

He is young, but he is old enough to know better.