I think I would have died if there hadn't been the women's movement. It gave me a vision that I could do something different, and it gave me an understanding that I wasn't a monster, or sport, or a betrayer of my family.

Life ain't the movies.

fiction is the great lie that tells the truth

Piece by piece, my mother is being stolen from me.

One of the strengths I derive from my class background is that I am accustomed to contempt.

I fell into shame like a suicide throws herself into a river. (253)

And of course these days I feel like there is a nation of us - displaced southerners and children of the working class. We listen to Steve Earle, Mary J. Blige, and k.d. lang. We devour paperback novels and tell evil mean stories, value stubbornness above patience and a sense of humor more than a college education. We claim our heritage with a full appreciation of how often it has been disdained. And let me promise you, you do not want to make us angry.