I don't know what any individual should do about crossing her own borders. I only know that I live a happier, more adventurous life, by crossing borders.

The poetry, if you will, of life is reduced to this sort of dry, scientific, you know, it's the worst sort of précis of who we are.

I'm a method writer. In order to write about the emotion, I have to experience it. I get physically tired and exhausted, devoting hours and hours and hours to it.

He made me realize that hard work--that the act of finishing, of completing, of accomplishing a task--is joyous

How self-centered, how arrogant... Imagine the awesome privilege of living in a society where you get to choose what you eat at each and every meal. When I was a kid, I was a vegetarian and a vegan for long stretches... I was a commodity cheese-atarian.

I look more Indian when I'm serious.

I wanted to do a weird book and reestablish my independent, small-press roots.