Change, When It Comes, Cracks Everything Open.

My Life Has Been Saved Over And Over Again By Picking Up A Book In Which Someone Captured The Whole Experience Of Being Despised And Not Dying.

He Never Said "don't Tell Your Mama." He Never Had To Say It. I Did Not Know How To Tell Anyone What I Felt, What Scared Me And Shamed Me... (109)

I Tell My Students You Have An Absolute Right To Write About People You Know And Love. You Do. But The Kicker Is You Have A Responsibility To Make The Characters Large Enough That You Will Not Have Sinned Against Them.

I Was No Cherokee. I Was No Warrior. I Was Nobody Special. I Was Just A Girl, Scared And Angry. When I Saw Myself In Daddy Glen's Eyes, I Wanted To Die. No, I Wanted To Be Already Dead, Cold And Gone. Everything Felt Hopeless. He Looked At Me And I Was Ashamed Of Myself. It Was Like Sliding Down An Endless Hole, Seeing Myself At The Bottom, Dirty, Ragged, Poor, Stupid.

Delia Picked At The Raw Sores Of Her Conscience...drunk Or Sober, Delia Lived In The Small Town In Her Heart, Ignoring The World In Which All Her Love Had Turned To Grief.