A lot of women make choices based on how they saw their mother's choices working out, how they saw the choices of the women elders in their lives working out. There's some rebellion in that, but there's also some deep reflection.

Settling other people's land is an American tradition.

The first person who ever told me that happiness was work was this manic-depressive artist I knew when I was in my 20s. I was like, 'What are you talking about? Happiness just happens. That's even the root of that word. How could it be work?

Artists and writers have to understand and live the truth that what we are doing is nourishing the world.

In my experience, staying in a marriage that my ex and I both agreed had all its best moments behind it was epically depressing.

When I was a kid, my mother's parenting style teetered between benign neglect and intense bouts of violence.

I don't know if my mother was a narcissist - or bi-polar or borderline. Those were words she tossed around over the years.