I believe in the power of anger and literary expressions powered by anger. It’s taken me decades to state this plainly, working from my first introduction to the literary essay in which the angry essay was hardly ever discussed—or when it was discussed, was dismissed as often ineffective or alienating for the reader. Add to that a lifetime growing up and operating in a culture in which anger—especially expressed by marginalized people—was stigmatized, blamed for social problems, and presented as a regrettable cul de sac that only led to pain and further difficulty.