The question
Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
A midwife named Jennie Joseph. She is a tireless activist for women, family health and equal access to quality maternity care.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 May 2017 source ↗
My mum was only 17 when she had my brother, and 19 when she had me. She was learning the ropes as she went along, and had a heroin addict boyfriend, which wasn’t easy.
I have to say myself, because I know everything that he’s been through and still continues to go through. I admire him. So I vote me – I like him.
My mother, because she raised all of us. I do have a dad, but in those days dads never helped with the kids.
That's a hard one. All of the great writers whom I admire have died. I guess the most recent one would be Márquez.
As someone who didn’t waste a minute.
To strangers. Living in New York, I see individuals every day who are invisible to so many. I want to say sorry that so many of us think their pain and suffering is not our own.
The birth of my daughter.
My father’s death before my marriage and motherhood.
Before kids, when I was 13 or so, on the back of my horse, running at full speed in an open pasture. Post kids, happiness happens often, but in more subtle ways. I now prefer the word “content”.
I might speed up a few details, but wouldn’t change anything, other than my dad still being here.
Laura Mvula, Lily Tomlin, Steve Jones, Neneh Cherry, Björn Ulvaeus, Dermot O'Leary
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