I Grew Up In The Church, And

It Was Always So Hot, And Everyone Was So Polite, And Everything Was All Surface But Underneath It Was Like A Bomb Waiting To Go Off. I Always Felt That Way About The South, That Beneath The Smiles And Southern Hospitality And Politeness Were A Lot Of Guns And Liquor And Secrets.

I Could Have Been, And May One Day Well Be A High School English Teacher, Because I've Been Given So Much I Just Feel Like I Have To Give Something Back. The Fact That Some People Consider My Work To Be Good Or Strong, It's Nice, But I Know In My Heart That If It's Not Coming - Oftentimes It's Probably Not Coming From The Best Place.

I'm A Better Musician Now, And I Rarely Practice Because Age Has Taught Me The Value Of Economy. And I Think I'm A Better Writer Now Because I Don't Waste As Much Time, Dilly-dallying And Sassafrassin' And Sloop And Sloppin' And Frying Eggs. When You Start Writing, Half The Time You're Just Saying Howdy To The Page. My Process Now Is A Little More Lean And Muscular. I Don't Waste A Lot Of Time. When I Had Kids, I Learned How Much Time I Had Before, And How Much Time You Actually Need To Do Something. If You Don't Have Time, You'll Just Do It And Get It Done.

As A Journalist, I Never Critiqued Anyone. I Never Review Books. I've Never Felt Qualified As A Musician To Say Whether Someone Is A Good Musician Or A Bad Musician. What Happens With Black Writers And Black Artists Is That If You're Critiqued, For Example, By A Black Historian Who Wants To Get His Name On The Cover Of "the New York Times," And He Says Something, Like, Wacky, Well, He'll Get His Name On The Cover Of "the New York Times" And He Might Get Tenure, And Your Career Suffers.

...since I Was A Little Boy, She Had Always Wanted Me To Go. She Was Always Sending Me Off On A Bus Someplace, To Elementary School, To Camp, To Relatives In Kentucky, To College. She Pushed Me Away From Her Just As She'd Pushed My Elder Siblings Away When We Lived In New York, Literally Shoving Them Out The Front Door When They Left For College.