I got you a fucking role model. Today marks Gloria Steinem’s 79th birthday. My first exposure to Steinem’s work was in a preface she wrote for New Our Bodies, Ourselves: A Book by and for Women (the predecessor to Our Bodies, Ourselves: A Book by and for Women) which was handed to me by my mother when I was in middle school. I’ve read a good number of her articles in Ms. Magazine (she’s one of the founding editors), but it wasn’t until I read Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions that I came to fully appreciate her approach to feminism and activism. It was in these essays that the aim of her diction was revealed to me in a way I could better understand. She writes with anger, but not spite. Passion woven with empathy. She acknowledges that there was a time in her life when she wasn’t a feminist, but notes that sexism and racism and having a low self-worth work as ever-present gatekeepers to gaining empowerment. Therefore she never apologies for her belated realization that she is, in fact, strong enough to stand up for herself and others. Which is what makes her so damn relatable…and inspiring. So Happy Birthday, Ms. Steinem, and thank you for being what’s true.