Beauty, My First Girlfriend Said To Me,

Life Ain't The Movies.

Babies Change Things, Open Doors You Thought Were Shut, Close Others. Make You Into Something You Never Been.

I Think I Would Have Died If There Hadn't Been The Women's Movement. It Gave Me A Vision That I Could Do Something Different, And It Gave Me An Understanding That I Wasn't A Monster, Or Sport, Or A Betrayer Of My Family.

And Of Course These Days I Feel Like There Is A Nation Of Us - Displaced Southerners And Children Of The Working Class. We Listen To Steve Earle, Mary J. Blige, And K.d. Lang. We Devour Paperback Novels And Tell Evil Mean Stories, Value Stubbornness Above Patience And A Sense Of Humor More Than A College Education. We Claim Our Heritage With A Full Appreciation Of How Often It Has Been Disdained. And Let Me Promise You, You Do Not Want To Make Us Angry.

Don't Go Taking That Gospel Stuff Seriously. It's Nice To Clean You Out Now And Then, But It Ain't For Real. It's Like Bad Whiskey. Run Through You Fast And Leave You With Pain.