I Am For Who I

I Don't Absolve My Father Completely Of His Responsibility For What He Did To Us I Feel Compassion, Maybe. He Had His Demons. But I Still Can't Understand How A Man Can Walk Away From Children. And Leave Them To Starve, As We Nearly Did, If It Wasn't For My Mother Going Out And Begging.

And, Of Course, They've Always Condemned Dancing. You Know, You Might Touch A Member Of The Opposite Sex. And You Might Get Excited And You Might Do Something Natural.

Actually, My Mother And Alfie Came For Three Weeks Christmas Vacation And Stayed For 21 Years. I Guess My Mother Never Went Back Because She Was Lonely.

First Of All There Is Always That Artistic Challenge Of Creating Something. Or The Particular Experience To Take Slum Life In That Period And Make Something Out Of It In The Form Of A Book. And Then I Felt Some Kind Of Responsibility To My Family.

My Childhood Here... Was Very Limited. So It Was A Long, Long Time Before I Actually Went Out To Brooklyn.