Today is the last day of my thirties. Even though narratives about women aging are mostly fraught with fear and shame, that has not been my experience at all. A thread, a celebration of bad bitches.

Toni Morrison spent her mid thirties waking up around 5am every morning to write while her two children slept. The Bluest Eye was published when she was 39. She began writing Beloved at 52. In 2012 she said, "At 81, I don't feel guilty about anything. So there!"

Elizabeth Warren began fighting for consumer rights at 46. From 57-61, her work at the FDIC ultimately led to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. At 63 she was elected to the Senate & ran at 70 for the Democratic nominee for President.

At 39, Julia Child graduated from the famed Cordon Bleu. She once said, "At 32 I started cooking. Up until then, I just ate." Mastering the Art of French Cooking was published when she was 49, and the first episode of her first cooking show aired when she was 51.

Ava DuVernay said, "I didn't pick up a camera until I was 32." Selma was released to critical acclaim when she was 42 and at 44 she directed A Wrinkle in Time, making her the first Black woman to direct a film with a budget over $100 million.

Mary Anne Evans decided to make a go at becoming a novelist at 36 & at 37 published her first short stories under the name George Eliot. At 40 she published her first novel & at 53 her masterpiece Middlemarch confirmed her status as England's greatest living novelist.

Before publishing Bastard Out of Carolina at 43, Dorothy Allison worked as a maid, a nanny, a substitute teacher and a "salad girl"-- whatever that means. She would of course go on to write many more books and to become a powerful feminist and LGBTQ activist.

In 2018 Viola Davis talked about how systemic racism affected her career. She'd been recognized for her theater work but at 43 was nominated for a Golden Glove and an Oscar for her one scene (!) in the Doubt. At 50 she'd go on to be really hot and have hot sex scenes in HTGAWM.

I could, of course, go on. There are so many stories of scientists, educators, musicians, activists who just keep getting more powerful as they age. Please feel free to share more stories here about women who rocked or rocked even harder into their 40s 50s 60s, etc.

Lastly, Nora Ephron may have famously written about how she didn't like her neck, but that bad bitch wrote Heartburn at 41, When Harry Met Sally at 45 and Sleepless in Seattle at 52. AND she was revealing the identity of Deep Throat to anyone who would listen AFTER she turned 40.