I take a deep breath and sidestep my fear and begin speaking from the place where beauty and bravery meet--within the chambers of a quivering heart.

We are taught not to trust our own experiences. Great Salt Lake teaches me experience is all we have.

I believe the personal is the collective. One of the ironies of writing memoir is in using the "I" it becomes an alchemical "we." This is the sorcery of literature.

I wonder about silence. Also about darkness. I love the idea that city lights are a "conspiracy" against higher thoughts.

If we fail in this country, it is because we are too timid. If we lose our way in America, it is because we are too complacent. We must become conscious to the real threats before us and act creatively, imaginatively, now. We can no longer look to leadership beyond ourselves.

Greed is a deprivation of abundance, a hoarding, a constriction of energy.

Who wants to be a goddess when we can be human? Perfection is a flaw disguised as control.