How do I advocate for what's right when I lack power or formal authority?

Sor Juana had no formal power. She was a woman, a nun, colonized, mixed-race in a rigid hierarchy. Yet her refusal to be silent—through letters, through poetry, through argument—shaped how people thought. Power isn't what makes your voice matter; clarity does. Your most usable tool isn't a title; it's the ability to ask questions that can't be unheard once spoken. Start where you are: in conversations, in writing, in how you treat people around you. Document what you see. Name patterns others pretend not to notice. Build alliances with people who are also awake. Sor Juana's effectiveness came from intellectual rigor, not political leverage. She made arguments so clear, so grounded in reason, that dismissing her meant dismissing thought itself. You have that power too, even if nobody gave you permission to use it. The examined moral life includes examining power itself—where it lives, how it moves, where the cracks are. Sometimes advocacy looks like resistance. Sometimes it looks like creating something new in the space where the old thing can't reach. What matters is that you're not waiting for permission to think, question, or speak. Start there.