What a burden to think one is conceived in sin rather than in pleasure; that one is born into evil rather than into joy.

For me, writing has always come out of living a fairly to-the-bone kind of life, just really being present to a lot of life. The writing has been really a byproduct of that.

To grow, to become spiritually alive, and vibrant, you really have to struggle. Without struggle, you do not move at all...I would appreciate it if readers who come to my work would try very, very, very hard not to think narrowly as we are taught to think in America.

I'm one in what I do and what I say and what I believe.

I am an elder, and I am delighted to be an elder. I would like to exhibit [and] explore it more - what an elder could mean in this time. But, I'd like to show that elders are good for us - that they can be good for us.

Look closely at the present you are constructing: it should look like the future you are dreaming.

No matter how hidden the cruelty, no matter how far off the screams of pain and terror, we live in one world. We are one people.