It's on us to investigate ourselves for any lingering sense that we are 'giving' equality. We are not. It is already given. And not by us.

I've had that my whole career. People were always hedging around the question of: Why are you so dark? What happened to you?

Anyone can be shamed, but feeling guilt requires empathy within.

My theory for nonfiction is that nobody can be free of some kind of conceptions about whatever story they're writing. But if you can find a way to build those into the story, then the story becomes a process of deconstructing and heightening and sometimes changing those notions and that makes dramatic tension. The initial statement of your position, and then letting reality act on you to change it, is pretty good storytelling.

I've always wanted to write energetic, atypical sentences, i.e., sentences that were not normal or bland.

I'm always nice when I do drugs. But, you know, I'm nicer on the drug called "writing."

I'm a big lover of America. I love the people, but also the weird berms, the strange little high schools tucked away in different places, and just the whole geography and the psycho­logical apparatus of Americans.