If a slave were to raise his voice to his master, he risked all manner of punishment. Yet what was possible in many circumstances was to lift one's voice in song. This was a major ingredient in what is now known as blues and gospel. Slaves may have been regarded as subhuman by their cruel captors, but through music, they were proud and dignified.

Nowadays, the media have to be there to keep you from asking too many questions, from getting together with other people who might want to do the Jeffersonian thing and call out the government.

I thought I was gonna be in the minimum-wage working world all my life.

Best not to mix the past with the present. The present paints the past with gold. The past paints the present with lead.

He looked at her Something Turned cancerous He was in love.

Now and then, someone is able to look at an empty space, conclude it would be a great place to start a revolution, and bravely go forward.

War is very sad and small life is pathetically fragile at times.