I Asked for Intimacy

Library Journal

An associate professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School, ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and contributor to Essence magazine, Weems explores her own relationships and the pain women suffer as a result of rejection and violence. Weems relates her struggles to articulate her sense of ``fundamentally a righteous stand: a woman's right to love whoever finds her lovely,'' a stand expressed through her own experience of being ``sent out, left out, and kept out because I am different.'' This work is a simple yet profound series of meditations on the value of love, relationships, and intimacy that articulate an African American woman's experience but have universal value. It is recommended for public libraries.