Expecting anything, living frugally in surprise.

No song or poem will bear my mother's name. Yet so many of the stories that I write, that we all write, are my mother's stories.

If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for.

It's better to have your blackness taken away than to stand there and lie about who you actually are. That's the trap.

As you know from school, it's when you have not prepared for the test that you have the fear of failing. And if you have prepared, even if you fail, you've done your best.

Laughter isn't even the other side of tears. It is tears turned inside out. Truly the suffering is great, here on earth. We blunder along, shredded by our mistakes, bludgeoned by our faults. Not having a clue where the dark path leads us. But on the whole, we stumble along bravely, don't you think?

I don't know. I imagine good teaching as a circle of earnest people sitting down to ask each other meaningful questions. I don't see it as a handing down of answers.