Juliet Takes a Breath

The preface consists of a letter that Juliet wrote to Harlowe Brisbane, the author of Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind. In the letter, Juliet relays how Harlowe’s book has inspired her to be a more active feminist, even though Juliet questions the validity of Harlowe’s words because Harlowe is white from Portland while Juliet is Puerto Rican from the Bronx. Juliet tells Harlowe that her book “is a refuge from [her] neighborhood, from [her] contradictions, from [her] lack of desire to ever love a man” and that the book has made her want to come out as gay to her parents (3). At the end of the letter, Juliet writes that she wants to be Harlowe’s assistant for her next book.

On the way back to the Bronx from Manhattan, Juliet sits on the train and observes her surroundings. A group of loud young men are also on the train, so Juliet pulls out her copy of Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind because reading “reminded [her] that [she] had a right to be mad” (11). When she finally reaches her stop, Juliet gets off the train, hands a dollar to the drug addict Robert, and gets a call from her