I Asked the Question

Dear Delyara, The one that might make me look too direct, too serious, too visible, too much. The one that would clarify things and also expose the fact that I have a voice in the room that is not there only to cooperate pleasantly. I asked it. Calmly. Clearly. Without dressing it in apology or smiling it smaller. That felt like a career victory to me because I know how many professional years women can lose to tone management and invisible shrinking. This one question did not fix the system. It did correct something in me. I was there. And I sounded like it.