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I Think As A Culture, We Don't Like Conflict Or Looking At Icky Stuff - Especially In Our Downtime.
-Kathleen Hanna
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I Think As A

Kathleen Hanna
...
I Think As A Culture, We Don't Like Conflict Or Looking At Icky Stuff - Especially In Our Downtime.

Understanding the Quote: "i think as a culture, we don't like conflict or looking at..."

This quote by Kathleen Hanna reflects deeply on the theme of thinking. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Thinking, Stuff, Culture, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Kathleen Hanna interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Kathleen Hanna

Kathleen Hanna is celebrated for insightful thoughts on thinking and stuff. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Thinking
Stuff
Culture
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It's The Idea That We As People Can Control Our Own Destinies. The Government And The Corporations, More Even Than The Government, Can't Dictate What Artwork We're Supposed To Like Or What Comedy We're Supposed To Laugh At.
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World
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Who I Am
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Song
Strong
Talking
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People
Would Be
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Strong
Children
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School
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Girlfriend
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Yoga
Thinking
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Band
Ifs
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Girl
Years
Class
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Thinking
Visceral
Edges
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Thinking
Stuff
Culture
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Role Models
Musician
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Would Be
Good Questions
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Jobs
Wife
Matter
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Loud
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Fashion
Real
Men
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College
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Election
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Ambassadors
Roles
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School
Responsibility
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People
Males
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Night
There Are People Who View Their Feminism In Different Ways. I Used To Beat Myself Up If I Didn't React To Things Like I Was Supposed To.
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People
Feminism
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Heart
Ideas
People
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Book
Writing
People
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Illness
Binary
I'm A Very Binary Person In A Bad Way Where It's Like Everything Is Either Totally Great Or Totally Awful.
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Way
Binary
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Dog
Real
People
I Am Possibly Thinking About Doing An Internet Show In The Future That Will Highlight Political Organizations That I Seek Out To Let People Know About Them, Volunteer Opportunities, And Donation Opportunities.
Opportunity
Thinking
Organization
Well, Part Of The Thing Is, Like, What's The Difference Between Censorship And Social Responsibility? I Sometimes Find That The Whole Censorship Argument Is Used As A Way For People To Avoid The Fact That They're Like.
Responsibility
Differences
People
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Way
Complicated
The Only Thing I Collect Is Art. I Collect It Because I Like Looking At It. A Lot Of It Is Really Personal Stuff That My Friends Have Made, Paintings That My Husband's Mother Made, And Things That I Bought. I Buy Abstract Art On Ebay, And I Buy Some Outsider Art On Ebay, Or What Is Called Folk Art, I Buy A Lot Of. I Have A Lot Of Professional Art Work As Well As More Stuff My Friends' Kids Make. To Have A Wall Of Art To Look At, I Feel Really Surrounded By Love, Because So Much Of The Work Is Related To My Friendships.
Mother
Art
Wall
I Get Emails Every Day From People Saying, "i Never Heard Your Music. I Don't Know Anything About You. I Just Happened To Watch This On Netflix. I Hope You're Feeling Better. More Power To You." It Just Shows You, I Don't Know, How Generous And Wonderful People Can Be.
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People
Feelings
I Made The Decision That My Contribution Needed To Be More Musical Than Political. My Music Was Enough, Politically. Art Matters. Art Was Enough. My Music Was Enough To Say What I Had To Say.
Art
Decision
Political
I Always Knew She Was Being Funny, But When I Tell My Therapist That My Mom Played The Trust Game With Me And Let Me Fall On The Ground, My Therapist Does Not Find That Funny. She's Like, "that's The Reason For Everything! That's Why You Have Such A Hard Time With Trust!" And I'm Like, "i Don't Really Have A Hard Time With Trust. I Thought It Was Funny."
Mom
Fall
Hard Times
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Artist
Interesting
People
I Didn't Even Know What The Word Lesbian Meant Until I Was Called One... And Then I Had To Look It Up In The Dictionary.
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Dictionary
Knows
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Writing
Want
A Lot Of Artists Are Just Really Stupid About Money, And It's Really Hard To Find Somebody Who Kind Of Thinks Of Shuffling Money Around And Doing Business As An Art.
Art
Stupid
Thinking
I'm Totally Into Taylor Swift. I Think She Has Super-clever Lyrics, And I Love That She Writes Her Own Music. Some Of The Themes She Writes About Are Stuff I Wish Was There For Me When I Was In High School, And I'm So Happy She Really Cares About Her Female Fans. She's Not Catering To A Male Audience And Is Writing Music For Other Girls.
Girl
Clever
Writing
It's Really Cool That Miley Cyrus Said She's The Biggest Feminist Ever. I Was Like, 'that's The Sound Of 200,000 Eight-year-olds Googling The Word "feminist!
Eight
Years
Feminist
I Felt Like Going Out On The Road And Mixing It With Music - Which Is Something Young People Are Always Really Interested In - Would Be A Good Way To Proselytize. It Was Like Feminist Evangelism.
People
Feminist
Mixing
For Whatever Reason I Just Remembered Being Six Years Old And My Parents Leaving The House And Trusting Me To Be Alone. I Had An Older Sister, I Think She Was Supposed To Babysit Me But She Immediately Ran Across The Street To Her Friend's House.
Thinking
Years
House
I Would Love To Make A Bunch Of Country Demos And Write Country Songs For Really Great Country Singers.
Country
Song
Writing
I Don't Consider Myself A Divining Rod Whom God Is Speaking Through Or Any Kind Of Crap Like That.
Kind
Crap
Johnny Rotten Isn't Punk. Maybe That's Punk To Somebody, But These People Are Participating And Challenging The Corporations That Are Telling Us What Punk Is And What Good Music Is.
People
Challenges
Rotten
I Was Lucky Enough To Go To College For Four Years. At What Was Supposedly A Hippie School With No Tests And No Grades, Blah Blah Blah, I Wasn't Learning That. I Was Taking Photography Classes. That Stuff Just Wasn't Talked About. It Was Like, "does This Picture Have The Right About Of Grey In It?" It Wasn't Even An Art School. It Was A State-run School.
Photography
Running
Art
If People Are Like, 'oh, You're An Icon,' Then Whatever. But Who Thinks Of Themselves Like That? It's Not Like I Have Posters Of Myself On The Wall.
Wall
Thinking
Icons
What (some) Bands Do Is Go, 'it's Not Important That I'm A Girl, It's Just Important That I Want To Rock.' And That's Cool. But That's More Of An Assimilationist Thing. It's Like They Just Want To Be Allowed To Join The World As It Is; Whereas I'm More Into Revolution And Radicalism And Changing The Whole Structure. What I'm Into Is Making The World Different For Me To Live In.
Girl
Rocks
Important
I Feel So Lucky That I Met The Love Of My Life. You Know Somebody's In It To Win It When...you're Having A Seizure And They're Holding You.
Winning
Epilepsy
Love Of My Life
Since I Loved Underground Music, I Tried To Carve A Space For Feminism Within It. Those Were My Hopes.
Space
Feminism
Underground Music
Me And My Friends In High School Were The Only Girls Who Went To Hardcore Shows. It Was Three Of Us, And The Rest Of The Audience Was Male. We Didn't Really Think About It. We Weren't Thinking We Were Alienated Or Whatever, But Eventually, As There Started To Be Violence In The Scene We Were In During High School, We Started To Be Turned Off By The Violence.
Girl
School
Thinking
I Think Music Can Definitely Be Art; I Also Think Music Can Be Crap And Not Be Art.
Art
Thinking
Crap
Internalized Sexism That Makes Us Feel Like We Can't Show Ourselves Not Being Perfect.
Perfect
Sexism
Shows
Feminism Rotates Between Backlash And Interest. And The Cool Thing About The Internet Is That It's Allowing Women More Access To Their Own History. Part Of The Problem Before The Internet Was That We Didn't Know Which Books To Read. Someone Had To Tell You.
Book
Feminism
Internet
I Don't Want To Waste The Precious Moments I Have, And I've Felt That Way Since I Was 17. I Have To Take Risks Because Why Else Would You Be Alive? Put Your Pirate Patch On And Go On An Adventure Because You Only Have One Life To Live.
Adventure
Pirate
Risk
So Many Women Have Experienced Horrific Forms Of Male Violence Throughout Their Lives, And Why Isn't There A Song About How You Get Depressed Because Of It?
Song
Violence
Males
I Wouldn't Want To Play Miss Hannigan. I'm Not A Villain. She's Mean To Little Children! I Can't Do That. That Would Disrupt My Brand.
Children
Mean
Play
You Guys Are Seriously Missing Out Unless You All Start Listening To Girls.
Girl
Missing
Guy
It Takes Your Mind Off Things When There's A Cat In Your Lip And He's Purring While You're Petting Him.
Cat
Mind
Lips
I've Always Talked A Lot On Stage - I Really Wanted To Communicate My Ideas And When You're Playing At A Lot Of Shitty Punk Clubs They Don't Have Good Pas And So No One Knows What You're Singing About.
Ideas
Singing
Clubs
I Don't Like Every Other Musician's Work. The Same Way That Filmmakers Don't Like Every Other Filmmakers' Work. Just Because I'm A Feminist Doesn't Mean I'm Gonna Say That I Like Every Other Woman's Work, Or That I Appreciate Another Statement That Another Woman Publicly Made.
Mean
Appreciate
Feminist
I'm Not A Goddess, For Crying Out Loud. I'm A Regular Person Who Took Feminism - Which I Have A Deep Connection To - And Mixed It With Music, Which I Really Love To Do.
Feminism
Connections
Cry
I Always Get ‘what’s Wrong?’ Or ‘lighten Up.’ Half The Time, When Guys Tell Me To Smile, I’m Not Even Frowning, I’m Thinking! Then I’m Like, Oh! Some Men Don’t Want Women To Think! Do They All Have Walkie-talkies? Are They All In This Together? Like, ‘ok, She’s Thinking, Someone Say Something. She’s Reading, Go Distract Her.’ It Starts Feeling Like That Sometimes, Doesn’t It?
Reading
Men
Thinking
I'm Sure If You See Things You Wrote When You Were 19, You Cringe. I Saw Stuff Like Angry Poetry That I Wrote When I Was Mad At My Father, Or Photos I Took Where I Smeared Period Blood On Myself. It's Embarrassing.
Father
Blood
Mad
If I Were A Supervillain, I Would End Capitalism, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia... But I Guess That's A Little Too Obvious And Not Villain-y Enough. Because That's Actually Being A Superhero. I Would Break Down Poverty With My Machete; I Would End World Hunger.
Racism
Superhero
World
What I've Heard From Younger Women And Women My Age Is That The Albums Changed Their Lives Or It Was The First Time They Had Heard Feminism That They Could Relate To. So That's Great.
Feminism
Age
Albums
Art Revolves Around Creating Something That Isn't There.
Art
Creating
Creating Something
I'm Lucky Enough To Have Been In The Age Before The Internet And Now During The Internet. I'm Grateful To Be A Witness To That. It's Horse And Buggy Versus Car. To See How Quickly Things Change Has Given Me A Renewed Sense Of Optimism. Does That Make Sense?
Horse
Grateful
Optimism
I'm Really Going Off Of Watching John Waters Speak One Time And I Remember He Just Kind Of Talked And It Was Totally Interesting. I Wanted To Hear About His Life And How He Got Started And When Did He Think He Made It, Stupid Stuff Like That. And What His Relationship With The Mainstream Is Because He's So Far Out There, But Then He Became Part Of The Mainstream In This Weird Way. He Was Really Funny, Though. Yeah, I Have To Work On My Jokes.
Stupid
Thinking
Water
I Wanted To Say To Myself As Much As Anyone Else That We Made Art.
Art
Made
Wanted
It Was One Of The First Things I Did On My Own; I Worked At Mcdonald's, Raised The Money And Did It. I'm Really, Really Passionate About Pro-choice, Because I Wouldn't Be Here Talking To You Right Now If I'd Had A Kid At 15.
Kids
Mcdonalds
Talking
I'm A Big Proponent Of Open Adoption, Because It Allows A Relationship Between The Birth Mother And Her Child So That The Kid Isn't Like, "where Did I Come From?" And To Have It Be Like, "look, You Have A Bunch Of People Who Love You." Not Just The Parents Who Are Raising You On A Day-to-day Basis, But Also To Have Contact With Your Birth Mother And Hopefully Your Birth Father. So That You Can Be Like, "oh, They Love Me Too, And They Love Me So Much That They Knew They Couldn't Take Care Of Me But They're Still In My Life To Some Extent."
Mother
Children
Father
I Can't Constantly Be Trying To Write The Unwritten Song, The Song That The 15-year-old Girl Needs. I Need To Write The Song That I Need.
Girl
Song
Writing
I Was Making Stickers For Guys' Bands. I Was In The Front Row Photographing Bands, Booking Bands, Doing All Of The Kind Of Backstage Stuff, And I Didn't Even Think For A Second I Could Do It, And Then I Saw Babes In Toyland, And All That Changed.
Thinking
Guy
Stuff
I Realized That Calling Yourself A Feminist Or Not Calling Yourself A Feminist, Just By Being In A Band Of All Girls, It's All You Talk About.
Girl
Feminist
Band
I Belive Power Can Be Used For Good, I Don't Think Every Form Of Power Is Absolute Evil. I Wish I Would Have Stepped In, And I Really Regret It. And That's Why I Really Encourage Young People Who Are Organizing To Speak Up.
Regret
Thinking
People
I'm Living In A World Where There Are Lgbtq Straight Alliances At High Schools. I Feel Pretty Psyched On That.
School
Alliances
World
I Kind Of Decided That Doing Music Is Enough Because I'm Already Running A Couple Small Businesses. I'm A Part Of Bikini Kill Records, Le Tigre Records, And Digitally Ruined Records. In Dealing With My Health And Everything, My Ability To Do That? I Wouldn't Be Good At It.
Running
Couple
Records
I Would Much Rather Be The Obnoxious Feminist Girl Than Be Complicit In My Own Dehumanization.
Girl
Feminist
Obnoxious
The Idea That Musicians/artists Have A Responsibility To Be Community Leaders Or "role Models" Is Problematic To Me Because I Really Believe That Some Of The Most Exciting Art Is Not Community-minded At Least In Any Obvious Or Direct Way, Which Is Not To Say That It Is Not Ethical Or Consciousness-changing.
Art
Believe
Responsibility
One Of The Reasons I Went Back To Music Even Though I Was Extremely Ill Was Because I Started To Forget Who I Was Aside From Being Sick. And When I'm Performing, Or Even Lecturing, It's Like I'm Myself Again, And That Was A Really Amazing Discovery - That, All Of A Sudden, I Have A Get-out-of-jail-free Card.
Sick
Forget
Reason
I Realized That I Really Enjoy Writing Comedy, And How Important Comedy Is When You Feel Like Total Crap.
Writing
Important
Comedy
Think Of Something That You Can Do As Opposed To All The Things You Can't Do - And Do That.
Thinking
Can Do
No One's Female And Male, We All Have So Many Different Traits. It's Just A Lie That These Certain Traits Are Male And These Certain Traits Are Female.
Lying
Female
Different
I Never Thought That Someone Would Be Teaching One Of My Fanzines. I Never Thought I'd Be Off To Lecture At A College. It's Still Shocking To Me.
Teaching
College
Would Be
My Political Views Have Definitely Changed Over The Years. Maybe A Better Way Of Saying It Is That I Have Grown Into My Convictions; The Values And Ideas Of Radical Feminism That I Started To Articulate In My Late Teens Feel More Internalized Or "second Nature."
Political
Feminism
Conviction
Don't Get Down On Yourself That You Can't Run A 4k Or Dance All Night Long At A Fun Club. Give Yourself A Break.
Running
Fun
Night
I Don't Appreciate It When Women - Or Men - Bandy About These Stupid Stereotypes About Feminism That Are Age-old, And That Are Meant To Keep People Turned Off From It. It's Like, "all You Have To Do Is Wikipedia Feminism To Know That It's Not About Man-hating - So Shut Up." That Makes Me Annoyed.
Stupid
Hate
Men
I Almost Wish We Would've Filmed A Whole Fake Tampon Commercial Around ["i'm With Her"].
Fake
Wish
Tampons
Taking Care Of Yourself Is The Most Important Thing.
Important
Care
Take Care Of Yourself
I'm Not Sure Riot Grrrl Would Have Been As Big A Deal If The Internet Had Existed Back Then. Because There's So Much Stuff On The Internet. People Could Have Been Like, Oh, Whatever, I'm Going To Go Look At Pictures Of Barbie Vaginas, You Know What I Mean? There's So Many Different Things On The Internet, You Read One Article And Then You Read Something Linked Off That Article And You Go Down The Rabbit Hole.
Mean
People
Barbie
Younger Feminists Actually Care About Stuff That Came Before Them, The Same Way That I Totally Cared About And Loved And Felt So Lucky To Have Access To The Feminism That Came Before Me. To Have Younger People Take What Me And My Friends Have Done, And To Say 'we Have Access To That, But We're Going To Put That Through Our Own Internet Generation Filter And We're Going To Make It Into Something That Speaks To Us And Is A Lot Smarter.'
People
Feminist
Feminism
You Learn That The Only Way To Get Rock-star Power As A Girl Is To Be A Groupie And Bare Your Breasts And Get Chosen For The Night. We Learn That The Only Way To Get Anywhere Is Through Men. And It's A Lie.
Girl
Stars
Lying
What Usually Happens With Me Is That I Start With One Idea In Mind And Then Something Else Happens.
Ideas
Mind
Happens
While Sexism Hurts Women Most Intimately, It Also Damages Men Severely.
Hurt
Men
Damage
If You Really Hate Me, You Should At Least Have The Courtesy To Take Out A Piece Of Paper And Write It Down And Mail It To Me. If You're A Worthy Nemesis, I Want To See Your Handwriting. I Want To See Your Name And Your Address, And If You Don't Have The Guts To Give Me Those, Then You're Not A Worthy Nemesis.
Hate
Writing
Names
When You Speak Up About Any Sense Of Unfairness Or Injustice, You're Told That You're Overreacting, You're Too Angry, Too Silly-shut Up Already. It Takes A Tremendous Amount Of Fortitude To Be Able To Live In This World As A Woman, Let Alone A Woman Who Wants Things To Change.
Change
Strong Women
Silly
I Got Hit Up For A Tampon Commercial And So I Asked [jd And Jo] If They Had Anything. Jo Sent That Over And I Was Like, "i Love This Track. Oh My God. It's So Upbeat. It's So Positive. It Would Be So Great For A Tampon Commercial." That Commercial Never Came Through, So Then I Just Had It. I Was Like, "that Would Be Great For A Hillary [clinton] Song." I Think It's So Funny That It Could Be A Tampon Commercial.
Song
Thinking
Track
I Need To See My Friends Or I'm Gonna Go Crazy. I'm Not Gonna Stay Home And Work.
Crazy
Home
Needs
I Stood In The Bay Window At Our House And I Sang Away In A Manger. It Was My First Time On Stage, But There Was Nobody Watching. I Just Remember It Was So Natural And It Was Such A Secret - Like Masturbating. I Felt Like I Had To Wait Until Everybody Was Gone. So I Guess Six Years Old Would Be My Most Important Age, 'cause In That Moment, I Just Knew What I Wanted To Do.
Years
House
Waiting
Every Band I've Been In, It's Just Become My Total Life. I Feel Like A Child Star - I've Missed Out On So Much.
Stars
Children
Band
Gay Marriage! That's A Huge Change And A Huge Win-win For Feminism.
Gay
Winning
Feminism
My Illness Has Changed Me - I've Always Thought "life Is Short And I Wanna Make As Much Of It As I Can," But I Really Don't Have Time To Mess Around. This Has Really Been A Wake-up Call In Terms Of What's Important, And I'm Working Hard To Figure That Out. I Need To Get Better At Not Doing Favors For People All The Time. It's Hard Because There's So Many People Who Have Helped Me Get To The Point Where I'm In A Band That People Wanna Come See, Or Where People Pay Money To See Me Lecture.
Life Is Short
People
Get Better
I Watch Videos On Youtube Of Bands That I've Heard Of That I Want To Check Out. And Sometimes I Don't Even Finish The Video. And That's Really Sad, Because Maybe I'd Like That Song. I Think That We Don't Give Stuff A Chance To Really Sink In.
Song
Thinking
Giving
Trending Author
Emo Philips
Richard Leakey
Theodor Adorno
Jon Landau
Francis Scott Key
William Perry
Category
Information