One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.

Call me Ishmael.

Every one has to be something.

The place in which I'll fit will not exist until I make it.

I am rooted, but I flow.

I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal.