June 1987
Taking Risks
Catching the eye of Harper and Row, being the first one into Chico Creek every spring, being tethered to the clothesline
Sunbeams
History is so indifferently rich that a case for almost any conclusion from it can be made by a selection of instances.
The Words Left Unsaid
Words alone had not knitted us together; neither could silence tear the fabric. I remember a crisp fall afternoon when I started to tell my mother that I loved her, that seeing her suffer was more pain than I could bear, that — she held out her arms to stop me. “Don’t speak,” she said, “or we’ll both cry.”
Money Versus People
The power that transforms our lives into money is lethal. The whales and redwoods, for example, were gone before the harpoon struck or the ax fell, from the moment they became money. . . . The same with ideas, memories, history, child care, healing, silence, and peace of mind. Capital looked their way; they became dollars and cents.
Bob Robert Cowboy
I was alone in the park when he came to me. I hoped he wouldn’t come closer but he did. He sat a few feet away, ready to talk. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to listen, but I would not be afraid.
Portraits
The self-portrait is one of my first photographs.
The picture of my grandmother was taken two days before she died. The children on the wall are me and my sister; the picture in the middle is my grandmother, when she was twenty-one.