I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival.

And when the sun rises we are afraid it might not remain when the sun sets we are afraid it might not rise in the morning when our stomachs are full we are afraid of indigestion when our stomachs are empty we are afraid we may never eat again when we are loved we are afraid love will vanish when we are alone we are afraid love will never return and when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed but when we are silent we are still afraid So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive

I agreed to take part in a New York University Institute for Humanities conference a year ago. . . .

It is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others-for their use and to our detriment.

Without community, there is no liberation...but community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.

I have suckled the wolf's lip of anger and I have used it for illumination, laughter, protection, fire in places where there was no light, no food, no sisters, no quarter.

I am on the cusp of change and the curve is shifting fast.