--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I have deliberated carefully about which…" description: "\"I have deliberated carefully about which of the terms that are unfamiliar to many of my readers I wanted to take time to introduce and explain, and whi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27b/dean-spade-13866_activist_i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which_2267216.jpg" --- # I have deliberated carefully about which of the terms that… ![“I have deliberated carefully about which of the terms that are unfamiliar to many of my readers I wanted to take time to introduce and explain, and which terms I would not introduce, despite the fact that I find them useful in my other work, in teaching, or in other activist contexts.” quote by Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27b/dean-spade-13866_activist_i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which_2267216.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27b/dean-spade-13866_activist_i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which_2267216.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27b/dean-spade-13866_activist_i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which_2267216.jpg) > “I have deliberated carefully about which of the terms that are unfamiliar to many of my readers I wanted to take time to introduce and explain, and which terms I would not introduce, despite the fact that I find them useful in my other work, in teaching, or in other activist contexts.” [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author explains choosing which unfamiliar terms to define for readers, balancing clarity and usefulness. **In simple terms:** Decide which complex words to explain for readers. Key Takeaway Explain only essential terms. Themes communication education accessibility Mood thoughtful analytical Type explanatory reflective When to use this quote - teaching - academic publishing - activist writing Key Concepts lexical choice reader engagement Questions to Reflect On - Which terms are essential for understanding? - How does omission affect inclusivity? A Different Perspective Over-explaining can overwhelm readers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Activist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activist/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Teaching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Making my work more visual is something I am increasingly excited about. I am hopeful that it will broaden access to some of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/making-my-work-more-visual-is-something-i-am-increasingly-excited/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Because my graduate academic training at law school was not one that included most of the intellectual traditions I find useful for understanding the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/because-my-graduate-academic-training-at-law-school-was-not-one-that/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [“You must immerse yourself in an unfamiliar world in order to truly understand your own.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nany-diaries/you-must-immerse-yourself-in-an-unfamiliar-world-in-order-to-truly/) Nany diaries > [“We become so used to the familiar that we begin to doubt the unfamiliar, until our eyes are opened and we see .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-we-begin-to-doubt-the/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [“And sometimes, God asks us to wrestle with the unfamiliar until it becomes our new familiar. Until we can breathe freely in that new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-tawn-bergren/and-sometimes-god-asks-us-to-wrestle-with-the-unfamiliar-until-it/) [Lisa Tawn Bergren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-tawn-bergren/) > [Dashi remains unfamiliar to most French and American cooks, who tend to reach for a bouillon cube to do many of the same things.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nobu-matsuhisa/dashi-remains-unfamiliar-to-most-french-and-american-cooks-who-tend/) [Nobu Matsuhisa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nobu-matsuhisa/) > [My work involves the physical manifestation of emotional reality. Thus, the invisible becomes visible; the normal, abnormal; and the familiar, unfamiliar. Ordinary life is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandy-skoglund/my-work-involves-the-physical-manifestation-of-emotional-reality-thus/) [Sandy Skoglund](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandy-skoglund/) > [It is the sense of unfamiliar envelopment that is impressive, whether in the living grays of hoarfrost, the crimson of the heavens at sunset,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-j-phillips/it-is-the-sense-of-unfamiliar-envelopment-that-is-impressive-whether/) [Walter J. Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-j-phillips/) > [As a former home secretary, I have access to and knowledge of the workings of the system in a way that individuals unfamiliar with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-blunkett/as-a-former-home-secretary-i-have-access-to-and-knowledge-of-the/) [David Blunkett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-blunkett/) > [Being ill like this combines shock - this time I will die - with a pain and agony that are unfamiliar, that wrench me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-brodkey/being-ill-like-this-combines-shock-this-time-i-will-die-with-a-pain/) [Harold Brodkey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-brodkey/) > [Only one ship is seeking us, a black-Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her backA huge and birdless silence. In her wakeNo waters breed or break.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/only-one-ship-is-seeking-us-a-black-sailed-unfamiliar-towing-at-her/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [It's different as a guest as opposed to being a star of a series. A guest star is a whole different responsibility. It's much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donnie-wahlberg/it-s-different-as-a-guest-as-opposed-to-being-a-star-of-a-series-a/) [Donnie Wahlberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donnie-wahlberg/) > [Letters crossing in the post, unfamiliar tunes heard three times in one day, the way that blows of fate descend upon the same bowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/letters-crossing-in-the-post-unfamiliar-tunes-heard-three-times-in/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [May you eat an unfamiliar dessert in a strange land at least once every three years. May you wake up... and start dancing while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-brezsny/may-you-eat-an-unfamiliar-dessert-in-a-strange-land-at-least-once/) [Rob Brezsny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-brezsny/) > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) Ted Martinez ## More by Dean Spade > [Because my graduate academic training at law school was not one that included most of the intellectual traditions I find useful for understanding the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/because-my-graduate-academic-training-at-law-school-was-not-one-that/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [One of the concepts I was having trouble illustrating was the concept that administrative systems create narrow categories of gender and force people into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/one-of-the-concepts-i-was-having-trouble-illustrating-was-the-concept/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Let’s be gentle with ourselves and each other and fierce as we fight oppression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/let-s-be-gentle-with-ourselves-and-each-other-and-fierce-as-we-fight/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [More conservative advocacy work often encourages portrayals of trans people as people who deserve rights. Deservingness, of course, corresponds to national racial, gender and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/more-conservative-advocacy-work-often-encourages-portrayals-of-trans/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Instead of focusing on what the law says about trans people, which is really what the law is saying about itself as a protector…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/instead-of-focusing-on-what-the-law-says-about-trans-people-which-is/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [In addition to encouraging us to participate in narratives of "deservingness" that cast large parts of our constituencies as "undeserving," legal reform strategies encourage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-participate-in-narratives-of/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > ["Oppression" or "systems of oppression" operate as a shorthand terms in much writing and speaking so that we do not have to list all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/oppression-or-systems-of-oppression-operate-as-a-shorthand-terms-in/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [I am interested in recent scholarly work examining the emergence of women's studies and ethnic studies departments and the development of the neoliberal university.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/i-am-interested-in-recent-scholarly-work-examining-the-emergence-of/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Choosing an agenda that supports the apparatuses of racial violence always pays better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/choosing-an-agenda-that-supports-the-apparatuses-of-racial-violence/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [My work is heavily influenced by critiques that many critical intellectual traditions, especially Critical Race Theory, have made of reform projects focused on legal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/my-work-is-heavily-influenced-by-critiques-that-many-critical/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Legal reform organizations are usually trying to portray their constituents as "hard workers," as "not criminals," as citizens, as part of normative family arrangements,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/legal-reform-organizations-are-usually-trying-to-portray-their/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [One particular debate that I have seen play out again and again is whether trans people who have more traditional gender expressions or who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/one-particular-debate-that-i-have-seen-play-out-again-and-again-is/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [There are sharply different, competing models of what trans advocacy looks like - those that seek to follow the path laid out by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/there-are-sharply-different-competing-models-of-what-trans-advocacy/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Legal reform has significant dangers: changing only the window-dressing of harmful systems but leaving the violence of the systems in tact, failing to provide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/legal-reform-has-significant-dangers-changing-only-the-window/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Law reforms in the US, ostensibly enacted to prohibit racism, have proven ineffective because they focus on bad intentions of individuals and fail to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/law-reforms-in-the-us-ostensibly-enacted-to-prohibit-racism-have/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) [Explore all 49 Dean Spade quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) ## More Activist quotes > [The image of blacks usually is one of people who are suffering from hunger, unemployment, and poverty. 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I think nothing's changed, I'm just a little bit more focused on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaz-bono/i-ve-been-an-activist-in-the-lgbt-community-for-a-long-time-i-think/) [Chaz Bono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaz-bono/) > [I've been an activist since I was a teenager. I was always curious about what we would now call social justice. I remember just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrisse-cullors/i-ve-been-an-activist-since-i-was-a-teenager-i-was-always-curious/) [Patrisse Cullors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrisse-cullors/) > [I think that compared to other politicians who have been put in jail in the past, compared to the human-rights activists in history who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-wong/i-think-that-compared-to-other-politicians-who-have-been-put-in-jail/) [Joshua Wong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-wong/) > [Some kinds of activists are more willing to try stuff out, see if works and think on their feet, but some of the people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duncan-green/some-kinds-of-activists-are-more-willing-to-try-stuff-out-see-if/) [Duncan Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duncan-green/) > [Black gay activists should try to build coalitions of people for the elimination of all injustice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bayard-rustin/black-gay-activists-should-try-to-build-coalitions-of-people-for-the/) [Bayard Rustin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bayard-rustin/) > [You do what you know is good, because it's good, and then you have a certain peace of mind, saying, you've been an activist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-mcgovern/you-do-what-you-know-is-good-because-it-s-good-and-then-you-have-a/) [Ray McGovern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-mcgovern/) > [Obviously the transgender movement has not progressed in the way that the gay and lesbian movement has. But Im an activist - thats just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaz-bono/obviously-the-transgender-movement-has-not-progressed-in-the-way-that/) [Chaz Bono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaz-bono/) > [“If you teach your children how to bully, or do nothing to stop them, teach them also how to die for their cause.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darnell-lamont-walker/if-you-teach-your-children-how-to-bully-or-do-nothing-to-stop-them/) [Darnell Lamont Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darnell-lamont-walker/) [Browse all 773 Activist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I have deliberated carefully about which of the terms that are unfamiliar to many of my readers I wanted to take time to introduce and explain, and which terms I would not introduce, despite the fact that I find them useful in my other work, in teaching, or in other activist contexts.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Dean Spade" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which-of-the-terms-that-are/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Activist" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which-of-the-terms-that-are/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27b/dean-spade-13866_activist_i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which_2267216.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27b/dean-spade-13866_activist_i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which_2267216.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27b/dean-spade-13866_activist_i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which_2267216.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I have deliberated carefully about which of the terms that are unfamiliar to many of my readers I wanted to…” — Dean Spade", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Dean Spade", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I have deliberated carefully about which...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which-of-the-terms-that-are/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/i-have-deliberated-carefully-about-which-of-the-terms-that-are/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```