Telling a true story about personal experience is not just a matter of being oneself, or even or finding oneself. It is also a matter of choosing oneself.

Before modern feminism, stories of female ambition were silenced or erased; even now, they are told with apology ("Yes, it's a great honor to be a Nobel Prize laureate, but really, what I love best is staying home and being a mother to Kevin and Annie").

We commonly confuse closeness with sameness and view intimacy as the merging of two separate I's into one worldview.

There are some things for which there is no apology, and on the question of slavery, there is no adequate apology for ripping people out of their homeland and bringing them here in chains. There is no adequate apology for the ongoing horrific legacy of racism.

We all fear change, even as we seek it.

The strongest relationships are between two people who can live without each other but don't want to.

We need to hear the sound of our voice for what we think and need.