“For me, just showing up for the traveling and writing gave me the power to overcome my fear of fear.” Quote by Frances Moore Lappé
“I get goose-bumps when you talk about Diane Wilson. Who knows where she found that courage? When she was a child, she would crawl under the bed when a stranger came to the house. But in 1989, she found out that her county in south Texas was ranked worst in the country for toxic waste. She wondered if the effluent, dumped into the waters where she and her family had shrimped for generations, might be responsible for the dwindling fish populations. And she suspected that her son's autism might be related to the pollution.” IfsKnowsChildrenCountryMightFoundHouseWaterGenerationsWorstSonBedWasteResponsibleSouthPopulationFishesStrangerRelatedTexasToxicPollutionAutismCountyBumpsBeing ResponsibleGeeseWilsonDumpedToxic Waste Author:Frances Moore Lappé
“Diane Wilson asked, "Why aren't people upset? Why aren't people protesting?" The mayor and county commissioners told her to keep quiet, and everybody else was afraid to speak out against the companies, which included some of the country's biggest chemical companies. There were even attempts on her life. Family members abandoned her, and certainly none of the other shrimpers stood with her.” PeopleCountrySpeakCompanyQuietMembersUpsetChemicalsAbandonedFamily LifeCountyMayorsSpeaks OutFamily MembersWilsonCommissioners Author:Frances Moore Lappé
“What gave her [Diane Wilson] the courage? If you look at someone like Diane, it's easy to say, well I could never be like that. But we don't know. We do know that it's possible for a woman, who didn't grow up as a world changer, to find it in herself to take a stand.” IfsKnowsWorldWellsLooksGrowsEasyGrowing UpWilson Author:Frances Moore Lappé
“What was so moving for [Diane Wilson], and also for me, is that she felt the Bay itself was like her grandmother. She said, "I don't think there's a woman alive who would give up fighting for her child, or her mother, or her grandmother."” ThinkingGivingChildrenSaidMovingMotherFightingFeltAliveGiving UpGrandmotherLike HerWilson Author:Frances Moore Lappé
“Recently, [Diana Wilson] went on a hunger strike to protest Dow Chemical's refusal to accept responsibility for a 1984 chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, caused by a company they now own, Union Carbide. In the past, Diane's hunger strikes had been lonely affairs, but this time friends and co-conspirators from around the country took turns joining her on her flatbed truck under the hot Texas sun, greeting Dow workers as they entered the plant.” CountryPastTurnsResponsibilityCompanyAcceptingSunLonelyIndiaHotUnionsPlantWorkersAffairHungerStrikesDisasterProtestTexasChemicalsTruckRefusalJoiningWilsonGreetingsDianaConspiratorsHunger Strike Author:Frances Moore Lappé
“I think that fear of embarrassment is the essence of the human challenge.” ThinkingHumansChallengesEssenceEmbarrassment Author:Frances Moore Lappé
“On the one hand, our social nature is our greatest beauty - it means that we have natural empathy and sympathy. But our social nature also means that we may let ourselves be controlled by the judgments of others, precisely because we care so much about our status in community.” MayMeanHandsCareSocialCommunityNaturalJudgmentEmpathyControlledJudgment Of Others Author:Frances Moore Lappé
“We can choose who we bring into our lives. We can choose who will reinforce our risk taking.” Our LivesRiskRisk-taking Author:Frances Moore Lappé
“Twitter is the most amazing medium for a comedy writer. I can't get in every idea I want on the show no matter how hard I try to bully the other writers, so it's a way of me getting out other comic ideas and immediately getting feedback.” WayWantTryingI CanIdeasMatterHardShowsComedyMediumsComicBullyFeedbackMost Amazing Author:Mindy Kaling
“That's what happened when my own life crumbled. The people who came into my life bolstered me to take more risks, to be even more true to myself.” PeopleMy OwnRiskHappenedMy Own LifeTrue To Myself Author:Frances Moore Lappé