And As I Reinvent Myself And I'm

It's The Best Honor When Someone Wants To Use As Their Professional Title The Name Of A Character That You Portrayed.

Coming From The '50s, Things Were Very Violent. We Were Still Being Lynched. If I Drove Down Through The South With My Mother, I Might Not Make It Through One State Without Being Bullied Or Harassed. I Feel Like Unless You've Been Black For A Week, You Don't Know.

I Think People Will Have Great Conversations About Religions, Women's Sexuality, Gender Issues And Gay Issues.

Me And My Sisters Were Taught That If Our Eyes Worked And Our Legs Worked, We Were Beautiful. We Had So Many Kids In Our Family That If We All Got In Front Of The Mirror And Were Ashamed Of Browns And Golds And Yellows And Whites, And We Believed What Society Told Us - That The Darker People Were Less Attractive And The Lighter Ones Were Prettier - We Would Have Had Sibling Murders. My Family, Being Half-rural And Half-military, Just Came From A Different Place.

I Was A Child Of The Women's Movement. Everything I Had Learned Was From My Mother And My Grandmother, Who Both Had A Very Pioneering Spirit. They Had To, Because They Had To Change Flat Tires And Paint The House - Because, You Know, The Men Didn't Come Home From The War Or Whatever Else, So Women Had To Do These Things.