I'm a witch woman--high on tobacco and holy water. I'm a woman delighted with her disasters. They give me something to do. A profession of sorts...I have the magic of words. The power to charm and kill at will.

I want to write an essay called "Fear of Mexico," because I always feel like Mexico's this lover that never writes to me.

I know the books that I need to help me to be wiser than my years and be kinder and more compassionate and more patient than I really am.

I don't really think our government at heart wants peace. So I urge you, write to Mrs. Laura Bush, because she reads.

For me, a story's a story if people want to hear it; it's very much based on oral storytelling. And for me, a story is a story when people give me the privilege of listening when I'm speaking it out loud.

I like to think about the bestseller list as, "This is the medicine cabinet of a very sick country." Let me look and see what they're reading that isn't nourishing them.

I try to be as honest about what I see and to speak rather than be silent, especially if it means I can save lives, or serve humanity.