Musician

I've raised my daughter with no television.

I would say I'd rather dig a ditch, you know, do hard, manual labor than write lyrics.

Literature gives us a window into other people's experiences in other places, in other times, so I thought it would be really interesting to investigate how different people had written about motherhood, and childhood.

I don't want to live in a culture of despair. I'd like to live in a culture of hope.

Poetry comes alive to me through recitation.

I think of myself as a musician and not a celebrity. Celebrity status is something you have to deliberately pursue - I couldn't imagine myself seeking that.

It's really wonderful to be able to be nobody, and then have a moment when I can be somebody, and then go right back to being nobody again.

I can't remove the autobiographical slant from the things I write. You always bring yourself into what you're writing.

It's funny, I remember doing the Johnny Carson show, and, uh, I couldn't afford my rent.

I wish I had appreciated my youth - I should have worn tighter clothing when I could have!

I've found out how overwhelming the media is and the way it drills things into your head, it's almost like a mind control. If I could control prople's minds, I'd like to put something useful in.

I was shy. Bookish. The kind of 13-year-old girl who, instead of having a boyfriend, would have a crush on a dead, 19th-century author!

My mother was a single working mother; she started having children very young. There was a tension inside her about who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do and how she couldn't achieve the things she wanted to.

I'm on this search trying to figure out exactly who I am and what I have to say to people.

The research phase was really fascinating - I'm not a closeted nerd, I'm an out-of-the-closet nerd.

I'm going to be shaking my booty when I'm 55.

Be true to yourself, and, um, don't worry about some large companies' quarterly profit index.

I don't think women's prisons are environments for dance routines, and I don't think mass murder is humorous.