And where the words of women are crying to be heard, we must each of us recognize our responsibility to seek those words out, to read them and share them and examine them in their pertinence to our lives.

The strongest lesson I can teach my son is the same lesson I teach my daughter: how to be who he wishes to be for himself.

To face the realities of our lives is not a reason for despair-despair is a tool of your enemies. Facing the realities of our lives gives us motivation for action. For you are not powerless... You know why the hard questions must be asked. It is not altruism, it is self-preservation-survival.

We must recognize and nurture the creative parts of each other without always understanding what will be created.

I started writing because I had a need inside of me to create something that was not there

One pays a lot, we all pay a lot, for awareness.

I learned to read from Mrs. Augusta Baker, the children's librarian. ... If that was the only good deed that lady ever did in her life, may she rest in peace. Because that deed saved my life, if not sooner, then later, when sometimes the only thing I had to hold on to was knowing I could read.