support for NPR and the following message come from the Walton Family Foundation, working to create

access to opportunity for people and communities by tackling tough social and environmental

problems. More information is at walton family foundation.org. What is something you think you still

have to prove to people you mean? Ooh, I think for me, at this point I feel like I have to prove that I still have more.

You know, I get a lot of, you know, I loved you in the 90s.

You know, we're both 50.

I'm Rachel Martin, and this is Wild Card.

The game where cards control the conversation.

Each week, my guest chooses questions at random from a deck of cards.

Pick a card one through three.

Questions about the memories, insights, and beliefs that have shaped them.

I'm not done.

Today, Ani DeFranco is playing the game.

I'm not a singer from the 90s.

I'm right here, and I'm still making art.

It's hard to overstate just how important Ani DeFranco was to me

in a particular chapter of my life.

That chapter being the one right after college.

My boyfriend of two years, which is an eternity at that age, had moved across the country to live with his parents while he figured out what to do with his life. And it slowly became clear to me that he had started a new relationship without telling me. I was obviously heartbroken and I was

angry. And the only thing that made me feel better was Ani DeFranco. I would just blast her album

dilate as loud as I could without pissing off my neighbors and just sing my guts out to these feminist anthems, which in one moment could be really

tender and stripped down.

...