there’s something to this myth of the sisters. Martha-and-Magdalene kind of dynamic. Love the way you put it. (i have a sister who used to be the bad one until me turning bad and now she’s the good one) also: becoming a mom does it. no way to be bad anymore, it screws your inherent badness (sorry)
Wow. I am the good sister most of the time, and this line struck me hard: If she wants to be free, the good sister must relinquish her desire to be good.
Hi Clementine, I've been following you on IG for a couple of years, and as I recently started a Substack, I decided to subscribe. I cannot express how many times you've put into words issues, feelings, events, and concepts that I've struggled to name or describe. Reading your work has been, in many ways, life-changing. Your words have helped me understand myself, helped me rid myself of shame, and helped me validate my own thoughts and feelings on subjects that most everyone else seems to see differently.
Even now, you've caused me to think of my past self in a different light. I went crazy being the "good" daughter, growing up in two households - one of addicts and one of evangelicals. If I was quiet enough, nice enough, sweet enough, invisible enough, Christian enough, if I talked like a girl much younger than my actual age, then they might be more gentle, more accepting, more loving, etc. I had never considered this as a way to go crazy but indeed it fucking is.
I took a hard lurch in the opposite direction in college, becoming the bad girl, the bisexual girl with the shaved head who did drugs and lived to shock the normies.
In middle age, I'm finally integrating the two into what actually feels like my real self. Your words have helped me feel less alone. I'm a little late to the party in learning some of these things but thank goodness your words have taught me.
I could go on, but really just wanted to say thanks.
Oh, yep, I know those sisters. I am those sisters.
there’s something to this myth of the sisters. Martha-and-Magdalene kind of dynamic. Love the way you put it. (i have a sister who used to be the bad one until me turning bad and now she’s the good one) also: becoming a mom does it. no way to be bad anymore, it screws your inherent badness (sorry)
Hey so wasn’t planning on crying into my coffee cup at 5:15 in the morning but wow
Wow. I am the good sister most of the time, and this line struck me hard: If she wants to be free, the good sister must relinquish her desire to be good.
Hi Clementine, I've been following you on IG for a couple of years, and as I recently started a Substack, I decided to subscribe. I cannot express how many times you've put into words issues, feelings, events, and concepts that I've struggled to name or describe. Reading your work has been, in many ways, life-changing. Your words have helped me understand myself, helped me rid myself of shame, and helped me validate my own thoughts and feelings on subjects that most everyone else seems to see differently.
Even now, you've caused me to think of my past self in a different light. I went crazy being the "good" daughter, growing up in two households - one of addicts and one of evangelicals. If I was quiet enough, nice enough, sweet enough, invisible enough, Christian enough, if I talked like a girl much younger than my actual age, then they might be more gentle, more accepting, more loving, etc. I had never considered this as a way to go crazy but indeed it fucking is.
I took a hard lurch in the opposite direction in college, becoming the bad girl, the bisexual girl with the shaved head who did drugs and lived to shock the normies.
In middle age, I'm finally integrating the two into what actually feels like my real self. Your words have helped me feel less alone. I'm a little late to the party in learning some of these things but thank goodness your words have taught me.
I could go on, but really just wanted to say thanks.