I do not think that literature is the primary instrument for social transformation, but I do think it has potency. So I work to te...ll the truth about people's lives; I work to celebrate struggle, to applaud the tradition of struggle in our community, to bring to center stage all those characters, just ordinary folks on the block, who've been waiting in the wings, characters we thought we had to ignore because they weren't pimp-flashy or hustler-slick or because they didn't fit easily into previously acceptable modes or stock types. I want to lift up some usable truths ...LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I have three phobias which, could I mute them, would make my life as slick as a sonnet, but as dull as ditch water: I hate to go t...o bed, I hate to get up, and I hate to be alone.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I sometimes have the sense that I live my life as a writer with my nose pressed against the wide, shiny plate glass window of the ..."mainstream" culture. The world seems full of straight, large-circulation, slick periodicals which wouldn't think of reviewing my book and bookstores which will never order it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »