There's me in every character I put on the pages.

You're a part of me...You're in my heart. Forever and always, all right? —D

Even with all of its changing, Brooklyn's architecture still feels like home, the language feels like home. It's changing so quickly that it's surprising. It's surprising still, when someone looks kind of askance to see me walking towards them.

I don't know how women stop being friends with other women.

Mama says it's okay to be on the quiet side—if quiet means you're listening, watching, taking it all in.

Fifteen. Sixteen was probably something, but fifteen - fifteen was a place between here and nowhere.

When you think of how a child experiences a series of events, it feels, for so long, like she's looking at everything from behind this glass and it's obscured.