If I had only a negative side of things to present, I think I would have much less of a drive to do it. Because what would be the point?

As a writer, you don't know what the hell you're doing. You're just doing it. You hope it works out well.

Remember that a book is many drafts - mine certainly are. It's improvisation. It's as much jazz and the way we talk and the way I heard people preach coming up as it is writing.

There are still horrible things that go on because of the myth of race, but we don't have to succumb totally.

I'm still vulnerable and still weak.

Even in my adult years, when I heard a white person speaking in a Southern accent I was initially suspicious.

Everything is up for grabs, everything is relative. Except nothing is if you are serious about it because the moment you become serious about answering a question you have a stake in it. Relatively goes out of the window, in one sense because you're putting your a** out there - you are depending on the answer, you need the answer.