“It's easy to smile just to make other people feel better. But when a person fakes happy, it has edges. Regular people may not see, but the people who count, they can see edges and lines where smile...”

“I think what a family is shouldn't be so hard to see. It should be the one thing people know just by looking at you.”

“A woman made of parts is a dangerous thing," Grandma says. "You never know when she'll throw away a piece you may need...”

“Grandma sees these things when she talks about them and gestures with her hands like she's painting brush strokes in the air. The way Grandma paints her dreams for me, there's a low sky.”

“When the song is over, she bows and I clap. I wonder how come she seems so brave. There is no part of her she hides. Lakeisha sits with me now on the bed and says,"Wanna hear a story?" I don't have...”

“Blood memory is described as our ancestral (genetic) connection to our language, songs, spirituality, and teachings. It is the good feeling that we experience when we are near these things.”

“The more serious about gardening I became, the more dubious lawns seemed. The problem for me was not, as it was for my father, the relation to my neighbors that a lawn implied; it was the lawns rel...”

“We having so much fun together!! 'through nature..through people..through religion...through culture..through friendship...we manage to learn something that lead to a better relationship among huma...”

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

“If I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and t...”

“I'm an Earth ecstatic, and my creed is simple: All life is sacred, life loves life, and we are capable of improving our behavior toward one another. As basic as that is, for me it's also tonic and ...”

“The Soul is attached to the world, and her Love contains the passion, beauty, and awe that make life worth living.”

“The true energy of Love confidently and unwaveringly burns away all sediment that clings to story while dropping us hard into the naked and raw hum of Right Now.”

“Once you know your Soul, you are never again subject to give your authority away. You own your truth directly and with certainty.”