When I tell people I was in the St. Justin Martyr parish, if they are native Chicagoans they know exactly where I was and what that was like. The Sunday before this particular march, the archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Cody, had required all of his pastors to read a letter in support of open housing and economic justice in every parish in the city.

I look at the great poets of the Soviet Union, like Anna Akhmatova, who endured far worse then anything we've seen or hopefully that we will ever see. If they could keep writing and keep a voice alive, keep people hopeful through their poetry, then I would be ashamed to stop and to give in. It would be really self-indulgent, unacceptable, and inexcusable to walk away from it.

I wish I could remember where I put things. I spend half my life looking for my keys. With the other half I look for my glasses.

If you're born lucky, you don't have to be good.

I always wrote; my first story was published in the magazine The American Girl when I was 11

Sometimes life seems so painful it hurts even to move my arms.

Never underestimate a man's ability to underestimate a woman.