AN OPEN LOVE LETTER TO J.K ROWLING

Happy International Women's Week

Dear J.K. Rowling,

Happy International Women’s Week.

I felt compelled to write to you.

When thinking deeply and truly about mighty women—women who have impressed, stood strong against scorn, and reminded us of words like integrity and magic—you’re the one who comes to mind.

Last Saturday, I sat and watched Harry Potter with my husband and my five-year-old.

What a gift.

What a treasure you have pulled from your imagination and handed to the coming generations. We were all caught up in the happenings of Harry Potter, holding hands on the sofa.

We loved explaining to our son why one cannot look too long into the magic mirror that instead of showing reality, reveals what the person most longs for, making it both captivating and dangerous. Those who gaze too long risk losing themselves in dreams rather than living in the present

What a way to teach.

The tale united us after a busy week in a time when everything seems to be trying to tear us apart.

I sincerely thank you for Harry Potter. And as a writer myself, I know you didn’t do it for the money or the power it has crowned you with.

I know you did it from a sharp and curious mind—something that seems so hard to find these days.

And it’s these days that I feel called to write to you about. These bizarre days where wrong is regarded as right, right is wrong, up is down, Left is Right… and a man is now a woman.

We can—and should—laugh at these times, but I also think it’s quite right to let days as strange as these break your heart. There’s always something to learn from pain, but sometimes we move too fast to feel it. I’m stopping here for a moment to feel that heart crack in half.

To let the crack say what it means.

To hear it.

I’m losing friends, you see. I’m losing old friends, and I can feel some of the ones I haven’t lost yet looking at me differently. Why? Because I cannot say, with all my heart, that 2 + 2 = 5.

I cannot say a man is a woman.

And you know what, J.K. Rowling? A part of me wishes I could. Wishes I could say something as nonsensical as a man is now a woman—just to fit in at the ripe old age of forty-one.

Just to not feel like I’m not losing my mind.

Just to not feel like I’m losing friends.

The brilliance you have shown in your work—and your fight for women and truth—has been fundamental in helping me stay strong and say:

No, I don’t think a man is a woman. And yes, I truly think sex and objective reality are incredibly important.

With the power that has been thrust upon you—earned by the brilliance of your mind—you have used it to show us that we can stay strong amid chaos and the repression of differing opinions.

When we are shunned, we can shine on.

There are no words to express my gratitude.

I like my mind. I can’t bear the idea of losing it.

Thank God you made it, J.K. Rowling.

From me, and millions of other women and men losing friends, jobs, respect… and sometimes… their minds… thank you with all of my cracked heart.

Happy International Women’s Week.