The Girl She Said, I

It's Not A Matter Of Whether The Reviews Of Your Books Are Good Or Bad, It's About Being Taken Seriously, Both As A Woman Writer And As A Writer Of Color. Also, It Worries Me When People Point To A Couple Of Women Writers Or Writers Of Color Who Get Some Attention - And I Am Sometimes Pulled Into That Category - To Prove That Others Are Getting A Fair Shot. It's Like Those People Who Keep Saying That Racism No Longer Exists In This Country Because Barack Obama Was A President Of The United States.

No, Women Like You Don't Write. They Carve Onion Sculptures And Potato Statues. They Sit In Dark Corners And Braid Their Hair In New Shapes And Twists In Order To Control The Stiffness, The Unruliness, The Rebelliousness.

I Think It's Hard To Write A Book About Happiness Because Fiction Requires Tension And Complication.

I Also Know There Are Timeless Waters, Endless Seas, And Lots Of People In This World Whose Names Don't Matter To Anyone But Themselves. I Look Up At The Sky And I See You There.

There Is Always A Place Where, If You Listen Closely In The Night, You Will Hear A Mother Telling A Story And At The End Of The Tale, She Will Ask You This Question: 'ou Libéré?' Are You Free, My Daughter?" My Grandmother Quickly Pressed Her Fingers Over My Lips. Now," She Said, "you Will Know How To Answer.