On 22 October 2011, I'll be participating in a reading/discussion at the Gillis Branch Library in Fresno, California.

Over the years, music put a weapon in my hand and words in my mouth. It backed me up and shielded me; it shook me and scared me and showed me the way. Music opened me up to living and being and feeling.

—Carrie Brownstein

Everything is failing all the time; it’s just a matter of how quickly and how devastatingly.

—Daniel Roth

And if you're reading this, it's been years
since then, and everything's too late
the way it always is in songs like this,
the way it always is.
—Kim Addonizio, "What Was"

We are not so good at developing great writers, it is true, but why is this?

You can't be anything but contemptible living for yourself.
—Mark Costello

I see it all around me, but it stops at my skin.

—James, Shortbus 

There is another world, but it is in this one.

—Paul Éluard

You can get religion in a bar or a jazz club as much as you can in a church.

—Elvin Jones