I was brought up in the Christian church and I studied in the teachings of Jesus. I believed in caring for others and trying to be kind. It's something I still have to work on every day.
Ronee BlakleyWhen I was sixteen, I began to think outside the box of my small town. Not that the people in my small town are in a box - they're not! There's a brilliant college there, and I had brilliant teachers from that college. But in terms of a conservative upbringing, which I did have within my own family, I just began to question things and to think for myself.
Ronee BlakleyBy the time I was about ten, I had started to lose faith with church ways. I was educated in some ways by my high school government and history teachers.
Ronee BlakleyIf you just take one foot in front of the other without any protection, you may end up falling off the fence.
Ronee BlakleyArtists are able to do well in the political arena because of fame, if only they can educate themselves.
Ronee BlakleyTen minutes before you go onstage and you begin singing that torchy blues song, you may just be drinking a glass of water and brushing your teeth and doing some deep breathing.
Ronee BlakleyI always sing them as though they are autobiographical, even if they're not, and most of my songs do come from something about me.
Ronee BlakleyYou don't want to say somebody did a great job of acting. You want to say, "Where did he find that person? How did he get that factory worker to come out of the factory and be on camera?" You want to believe that person is real.
Ronee BlakleyThe line is very delicate and fine between being what one might call sane or insane, well or unwell.
Ronee BlakleyTo me, the housewife who puts her teacups unwashed in the sink because her husband won't wash them, is political. Every act is political: the things you do, as well as the things you omit doing; the things you refuse to do; the things you fail to do; the things you say, as well as the things you don't say.
Ronee BlakleyI don't understand that about Taylor Swift, or about Joan [Mitchell] - how can she not say she's a feminist?! People don't understand what the word means. It simply means equal rights before the law.
Ronee BlakleyThings are changing. They need to change more. It should not be of any note that a woman does something, because women do everything.
Ronee BlakleyMy daughter could do and be anything, without having to fight to get through the glass ceiling. Without having it be so extraordinary. If my daughter went to produce a soundtrack for a movie, there would be nothing extraordinary about a girl doing it. When I did it, it was highly unusual.
Ronee BlakleyAs a writer, you look for someplace to start. Once you have a beginning and you've written the first two sentences, nothing else will ever change it.
Ronee Blakley