When you stood between somebody you loved and death, it was hard to be awake and it was hard to sleep.

I saw the movie, he said. I know what it's about. Listen to this. When girls get to be about twelve or so - he leaned toward us - their tits bleed.

To be inclusive you must accommodate different levels of sophistication.

Children learn to speak Male or Female the way they learn to speak English or French.

A changeableness, too, as if beneath my visible face there was another, having second thoughts.

Where else would she feel more comfortable than in this subterranean realm where people wrote down what they couldn't say, where they gave voice to their most shameful longings and knowledge?

Winter is the season of alcoholism and despair.