No Walls and the Recurring Dream: A Memoir | 
5-25-21: My 54th finished book of 2021! I‘ve loved Ani DiFranco since I was a teen in the 90s. Her music was the soundtrack to my life at that time. Her memoir was very interesting spanning her childhood and growing up in Buffalo, NY, learning how to play the guitar, life on the road up to 2001,and her passionate political and feminist stances. She is raw and unapologetically real. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👍🏼📖#️⃣5️⃣4️⃣
Didn't realize this existed, but as soon as I did I had to get a copy for myself.
panAni Difranco meant so much to me in the 90s - she was the soundtrack to my feminism and my queerness. I knew that we parted ways politically some time after that so was a bit apprehensive to read this book. Her biological essentialism, lack of intersectional analysis and trans politics made this hard to read. Also, it's really poorly written. I can't think of a memoir I've read that was more of a mess. It's a rambling stream of consciousness ⤵️
Reading and snuggling with my niece's new puppy 😍
Currently reading. I am curious about this one. Ani was such a pivotal musician for me in my late teens and early twenties. She meant so much to me. I also know now that she is very politically problematic on certain issues and I'm am wondering what it will be like to read her memoir.
panI don‘t know what I‘m more disappointed by, the transphobic rhetoric or that the way Ani has chosen to be a rebellious feminist is by not being feminist at all.
Current reads. I‘m actually doing the Ani on audio and am really enjoying hearing her tell her story. The Etaf Rum is turning out to be just okay, which surprised me considering all the hype. Lots of potential but the narrative is very repetitive. I‘m at 78% and eager to finish.
pickI loved hearing Ani Difranco narrate her own #audiobook. Her music was a soundtrack to my life in the early 90s, so I revisited my own past as I listened. She‘s a great storyteller and this memoir covers her early years up to 2001. 🎸
“Let the records show that there are in fact whole other girls with the same face and same name who lived concurrently to the one in this story, but this is the one that got written down.” 🎸#LGBTQ
Nature‘s math seems to me to be possessed of a profoundly simple grace: 1 = 0; 2 = infinity. As in, there‘s really no such thing as a singularity, operating outside of relationship, and two is always the springboard to infinity. I do not believe it‘s necessary to denigrate or deny any of nature‘s persistent binary themes in order to understand gender as a spectrum. Binary systems in nature possess infinite potential.
pickThis is somewhere between a pick and a so so for me. I thought it picked up very well towards the end - and I‘m so jealous she has a Prince anecdote! It was good for dipping into and out of, but was vague sometimes when I wanted more detail.
I‘m not loving the writing but it‘s anecdotal enough to keep reading.
Unexpected late afternoon reading view
What came in the mail yesterday!
Traveling is still the oldest and most poetic form of higher education there is. Not traveling in some elite, upper class bubble, mind you, but really traveling.
I have felt this many times while standing in the front row at an Ani show. “Not only is my relationship with my fans back to being a human-to-human thing. I believe it to be one of the very best human-to-human things.” ~ Ani DiFranco
Those who sit furthest from the center of power, see it the clearest. ~ Ani DiFranco
Holy crap. I‘m sitting in a church and will literally be 20‘ from Ani Fucking Difranco. And I‘m feeling overcome with the love and emotion that her songs have always made me feel...
30 pages in and loving it. Grew up in Buffalo just a few years younger than Ani, but totally different childhoods. I keep thinking, “What year was this? In Buffalo? How d was she?” Still wrapping my mind around how different things could be 30 minutes from my neighborhood, but also remembering that we never went downtown.
This came in the mail today! Can‘t wait! 😍
Pre-ordered myself a birthday present
Not book related (except that she has her new book out now that I want to read, I tagged it!) BUT Ani is on tour and is again coming to Houston! And again, IM GOING TO GO SEE HER! It's gonna be my 12 year olds first concert too! We're both so excited! I just had to share it here!
panI love Ani but this is a mess.
One of my favorite bookstores in Chicago is Women and Children First. If you visit, stop by. They have the best selection of feminist, activist, LGBTQ books, for kids & adults. My kids have gone to Story time with Drag Queens there. And they have some amazing authors & artists come through. I love Ani DiFranco‘s music so I am beyond excited to hear her talk about her life and work! I had no idea she was coming out with a memoir! Anyone else a fan?
