Had middle class black women begun a movement in which they had labeled themselves "oppressed," no one would have taken them seriously.

Sadly, at a time when so much sophisticated cultural criticism by hip intellectuals from diverse locations extols a vision of cultural hybridity, border crossing, subjectivity constructed out of plurality, the vast majority of folks in this society still believe in a notion of identity that is rooted in a sense of essential traits and characteristics that are fixed and static.

Writing and the hope of writing pulls me back from the edges of despair. I believe insanity and despair are at times one and the same.

All our silences in the face of racist assault are acts of complicity.

It's in the act of having to do things that you don't want to that you learn something about moving past the self. Past the ego.

Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust.

I feel that my environment reflects my belief in the grace and art and elegance of living simply.