Dear Higher Education: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain

’Lonely Only’ Voices: Modeling Perseverance, Power Despite Pain, and Possibility

Cynthia Porter

The Ohio State University

Abstract

This submission to Dear Higher Education, titled “’Lonely Only’ Voices: Modeling Perseverance, Power Despite Pain, and Possibility,” presents a perspective from a member of the “lonely only” as one that offers opportunity and insight for the benefit of society, at large. Despite barriers and attacks, the “lonely only” often models grace, perseverance, determination, and success. Such voices provide unique and invaluable insights into what could be in the future, while also enduring the painful process of accepting (while refusing to perpetuate) examples of inequity and misrepresentation that have informed and supported a discriminatory social structure. Penned by a woman of color in the academy, the author considers the positionality of the “lonely only” – often marginalized, racialized, and discriminated against – to be one that is also fundamentally inspirational, exemplifying the power in self-assuredness, the strength in speaking across difference, and thus a rejection of a narrative that encourages the status quo to believe that other ways of being, identifying, and communing are possible.