Joan Didion

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want, and what I fear.”

Joan Didion

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Many of us who love reading and writing mourn a legendary writer, Joan Didion. I’ve seen so many people reflecting on: her essays about grief and Hollywood, her unique and petite coolness (it’s almost like the Olsen twins modeled themselves after her), her love for coca cola and cigarettes (Olsen twins, right?), her passion and exortation to not just suffer through life but to live it (and claim it hard), the fact that as any good writer would– she left us with more questions than answers, despite what they teach us in journalism school.

Those of us who have read her have traveled with her, and as good writing tends to do, she stuck with us and traveled with us.

“People with self-respect exhibit a certain toughness, a kind of moral nerve; they display what was once called *character,* a quality which, although approved in the abstract, sometimes loses ground to the other, more instantly negotiable virtues…. character–the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life–is the source from which self-respect springs.”

Joan Didion

She left us with feelings, with nuance, with complexity, with a world of observations and the desire to uncover the hidden meanings that aren’t readily spotted on the surface. She left us with the gift of her words; the world through her eyes.

“I’m not optimistic, darling, but I’m hopeful. There’s a difference. I’m hopeful.”

Joan Didion