We're seeing a decline in religion in North America but, I hope, a rise in individual spirituality. Whatever that means to people.

I'm not alone in having obese people in my circle and in my family. I have loved morbidly obese people, and I don't approach obesity with revulsion or judgment but with empathy and compassion.

When I grew up, all of our news, weather, and sports came from America. The people where I grew up rooted for American teams as opposed to Canadian teams.

Winning the lottery is winning the lottery. It's highly unlikely and very unusual.

I have had, like most women, a lifelong preoccupation with my weight. My first published short story was a love story between an elderly man and a very young morbidity obese woman.

Evidence tells that black and Latina woman are more accepting of curves, and that's a good thing.

The drugstore is a wonderful place to see all manner of ailments.

Aunt Lovey used to tell me that if I wanted to be a writer, I needed a writer's voice. 'Read,' she'd say, 'and if you have a writer's voice, one day it will shout out, 'I can do that too!

When you stand outside, you look around and find that the people you're with live on the fringes.

I feel, holding books, accommodating their weight and breathing their dust, an abiding love. I trust them, in a way that I can't trust my computer, though I couldn't do without it. Books are matter. My books matter. What would I have done through these years without the library and all its lovely books?

What is it about sadness that can be so fulfilling?

When we talk about God, I think what most of us mean is some greater thing, some higher power that can help us access our own strength or give us strength.

Because I live in California now, I find my musings really being centered in this world.

I hum some secret place into being, thinking of this other me, the one that only I can see, a girl called She, who is not We, a girl who I will never be.

The city, no matter how small, is corrupt and unrepentant, while the sun shines brighter in the country, making people more wholesome.