Over the years, I've found that I either live life or write about it. I can't seem to do both simultaneously - I have to do it sequentially. When I write incessantly, I lose touch with the issues and passions that fuel the work. But when I get too involved in organizations or movement endeavors, I almost forget that I'm a writer. It's a constant struggle to find a balance between these two worlds - the solitary writing life and the life of a social justice activist.

I feel about mothers the way I feel about dimples: because I do not have one myself, I notice everyone who does.

Before devising any blueprint that includes the assumption of Having It All, we need to ask ... Why do we need Everything?

To me, a person's identity is composed of both an 'I' and a 'we.' The 'I' finds itself in love, work, and pleasure, but it also locates itself within some meaningful group identity - a tribe, a community, a 'we.' America is too big and bland a tribe for most of us.

When men are oppressed, it's a tragedy. When women are oppressed, it's tradition.

If the Richter scale could measure human calamities, the loss of a child would register a ten.

We mothers are learning to mark our mothering success by our daughters' lengthening flight.