Time has a way of stripping everything that is apparent about a thing away, leaving the Perception of a thing unrecognizable. But in the process, Time bares the true essence and beauty of the thing.

I Became a free woman when I decided to stop dreaming, freedom that is waiting for nothing .. and anticipation is a state of slavery" - Ahlam (Chaos of the Senses)

Black skin was filled with so many barriers, so many restrictions, so many.

My dis-interest in what people speak of as "women's problems," "women's literature." Have women a special sensibility? No. There are individuals uniquely talented & uniquely equipped to interpret the complex symbolism of the world but they are certainly not determined by gender. The very idea is astonishing. [...] Energy, talent, vision, insight, compassion, the ability to stay with a single work for long periods of time, the ability to be faithful (to both one's writing and one's beloved)--these have nothing to do with gender. [...] The sensibility of a Virginia Woolf, for instance. It's her own, it's uniquely hers. Not because she is a "female" but because she is, or was, Virginia Woolf. Not more sensitive than Henry James or Proust or James Joyce, consequently not more "feminine" in the narrow & misleading sense people use that term today....But then I suppose critics must have something to write about. [...]

Why do gentlemen's voices carry so clearly, when women's are so easily stifled?

I understand. I know about the women gathering at Lourdes, the visits worldwide. You are all staying at the chateau. There are no accidents,” Lilli said.