My black friends never asked me how much money I made, or what school my children went to, or anything like that. They just said, "Come as you are."

I felt like a Tinker toy kid building my own self out of one of those toy building sets; for as she laid her life before me, I reassembled the tableau of her words like a picture puzzle, and as I did, so my own life was rebuilt.

First person narrative is a very effective tool but you have to know as a writer how to make it work.

My black friends never asked me how much money I made, or what school my children went to, or anything like that. They just said, "Come as you are."

So sweet and precious is family life.

Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!

There are two responses to really awful things. One is to lament and say, "Oh my God, oh lord." And the other is to laugh at it a little bit, try your best to deal with it and, if you can, forget about it as soon as possible.