“It was and is pivotal in helping me frame how ‘Black’ and ‘woman’ intersect.
She was the first to introduce me to the revolutionary nature of Black joy and the blindspots of privilege.
I still go back to this book as reference on a regular basis.
Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
It always gets packed in my bag for travel.
Audre has given me a road map for my feminist beliefs.”
Ross also shouted out Pema Chodron’sWhen Things Fall Apart.
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“That book was revolutionary for me.”
She also confesses that she’s a huge fan ofGrease.
I really identified with the style.
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It was just dynamic and spectacular and ridiculous.
I loved the drama of the songs."
“Not only is she an incredible actress, her face is extraordinary.
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It gives you the depth of the ocean and the flightiness of a cloud.
What she inhabits in her face and body is otherworldly and deeply grounded in the present.
It really blew my mind.”
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“It literally identified what I wanted to do with my life.
I grew up on Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett.
Those two women had defined me in terms of a combination of glamor and humor and silliness and self-deprecation.
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But they obviously didn’t look like me.
Her voice is a combination of a warm bath and a mountaintop.
Her lyrics…every single song resonated, and every single song does still.
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It was like a personal acoustic concert.
And it was an album you could listen to from front to back.
But, she says with a laugh, “I love a pool, but I hate being wet.
So it has to be a pool combined with sunshine and heat.”
A version of this story appears in the November issue ofEntertainment Weekly,available here.
