I know in my heart the dream will be realized. I choose to believe. And choosing is a powerful thing. It’s available to you at every moment. You can choose understanding over anger, believing over nonbelieving, action over inaction. It gives meaning to every choice we make.

What we need to do is learn to respect and embrace our differences until our differences don’t make a difference in how we are treated.

(from a speech at the Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation January 20, 2004, Santa Cruz, California)

August said, “Listen to me now, Lily. I’m going to tell you something I want you always to remember, all right?” Her face had grown serious. Intent. Her eyes did not blink. “All right,” I said, and I felt something electric slide down my spine. “Our Lady is not some magical being out there somewhere, like a fairy godmother. She’s not the statue in the parlor. She’s something inside of you. Do you understand what I’m telling you?” “Our Lady is inside me,” I repeated, not sure I did. “You have to find a mother inside yourself. We all do. Even if we already have a mother, we still have to find this part of ourselves inside.”