Even when it comes to writing fiction, how do you encompass all this stuff that's right on the tip of your tongue? You have to fold that into what yo….

I'm not very pious about anything, fortunately, but I'm skewering myself first. I'm skewering things that I care about and things that are important ….

It makes me think about how you hear these young people say, "I see you, man." Or even if you go and watch some basketball game over the summer and t….

There are always so many things happening [to us] at one time. We read Isherwood's A Single Man in class, and we had to ask: How is he talking about ….

I think, and a lot of that has to do with where I grew up in California; [status] isn't something I think about that much..

It's just never the same. At least for me.It's probably because it's just who I am, I never know what that [truth] is. It's so momentary to go, "Oh, ….

I've written a little bit in Germany..

It's weird because there is progress somehow. But there's so much that just feels the same. How important is that rank? How important is it that I am….

That's such a great book [Bloods]. That's a perfect way to articulate this thing that we're talking about. Just because someone is a black general, d….

I'm doing all these interviews with the British press, the Italian press, and others. They all want to talk about this stuff. I don't have a stance; ….

The other thing [my psychology professor] said to me was that I was always very mindful of the person who was away from the group, that I was always ….

I'm healthier in California, probably a little happier, maybe..

I don't know exactly what a black Chinese restaurant would be, but I would sure love to see one..

Contradictions make people feel off. They'll say, "Hey, you just said this and now this person is doing that, how is that possible?".

All this angst, all this stuff we all feel, is just tied to making art. It's so ancient..

My British publisher has this independent press. It's pretty small; they actually won last year. And she's got this great energy, and she's fiercely ….

People are very comfortable when race relations get looked at retrospectively. Slavery, the civil rights movement, etc..

If New York is the City That Never Sleeps, then Los Angeles is the City That's Always Passed Out on the Couch..

I try to be accommodating, but I'm pretty much a loner..

Well, it's not all the same, but there are a lot of parallels. I'm not sure how to answer [on psychology background], but I think when I was studying….

Why are the mainstream buzz things rarely contemporary? It doesn't happen very often. It's hard to feel culpable or implicated or even apathetic..