Where I grew up, it was all people who were black and Latino, people who look like me. Now I live in a neighborhood where very, very few people look like me.

Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together.

You have those walls up all around you...Come a day you gonna want to tear them down brick by brick and gonna find that the cement is all hard. What you gonna do then?

There is so much work left to be done in the world and for me, I am hoping to make the change I can and do the work I need to do through this gift I've been given.

I believe in one day and someday and this perfect moment called Now.

I couldnt be a writer without hope. I think I became a writer because Im pretty optimistic.

There is something so deeply visceral about libraries for me-rooms and rooms full of people dreaming and remembering.