War Starts In The Mind,

In The System Of Chivalry, Men Protect Women Against Men. This Is Not Unlike The Protection Relationship Which [organized Crime] Established With Small Businesses In The Early Part Of This Century. Indeed, Chivalry Is An Age-old Protection Racket Which Depends For Its Existence On Rape.

In My Lifetime I Have Seen Democracy Begin To Expand, Not Only To Include Those Who Have Been Excluded, But To Provide A Listening Arena, A Vocabulary, An Intelligent Reception For Stories That Have Been Buried. Not Just Stories Of The Disenfranchised And The Marginalized, But Marginalized And Disenfranchised Histories Even In The Lives Of The Accepted And The Privileged.

Self-reflection Is A Desire Felt By The Body, As Well As The Soul. As Dancers, Healers, And Saints All Know, When You Turn Your Attention Toward Even The Simplest Physical Process - Breath, The Small Movements Of The Eyes, The Turning Of A Foot In Midair - What Might Have Seemed Dull Matter Suddenly Awakens.

Far More Frightening Than The Thought Of Dying Was The Experience Of Erasure Already Occurring In My Life. My Fear Of Becoming Someone Who Did Not Count.

Although The Many Virtues That Courtesans Possessed Were Employed To Defy Circumstances, The Role They Played Depended On The Same Circumstances Over Which They Triumphed- Conditions Which To, Fortunately For Modern Women, No Longer Exist.