Reclaiming the word 'fat' was the most empowering step in my progress. I stopped using it for insult or degradation and instead replaced it with truth because the truth is that I am fat and that's ok. So now when someone calls me fat I agree whereas before I would get embarrassed and emotional.
The only thing that can save the world is the reclaiming of the awareness of the world. That's what poetry does.
We're reclaiming America and restoring honor. I believe we do that with faith with hope with charity and honoring our brothers and our sisters as we honor each other.
Let me go over this again on the reclaiming the civil rights movement. People of faith that believe that you have an equal right to justice - that is the essence. And if it's not the essence then we've been sold a pack of lies. The essence is everyone deserves a shot - the content of character not the color of skin.
When I was a child I asked my mother what homosexuality was about and she said - and this was 100 years ago in Germany and she was very open-minded - 'It's like hair color. It's nothing. Some people are blond and some people have dark hair. It's not a subject.' This was a very healthy attitude.