I think people are sexy when they have a sense of humor, when they are smart, when they have some sense of style, when they are kind, when they express their own opinions, when they are creative, when they have character.

I still consider myself a feminist.

I don`t think gender is aesthetically defining for me.

But I never want to get to the point where I write a safe song or one that represents my sense of a subject in order to appear civilized.

If you have to fight a crowd of boys, it`s best to go for the biggest one. That way you won`t have to fight them all. The others will see that you mean business and you will win their respect.

I loved the atmosphere of the dance studios - the wooden floors, the big mirrors, everyone dressed in pink or black tights, the musicians accompanying us - and the feeling of ritual the classes had.

Writing is always personal in some way but not always in a direct way.

You have to defend your honor. And your family.

My intellect has always been more responsible than my emotions for how I respond to the world.

My mother wanted me to understand that as a woman I could do pretty much whatever I wanted to, that I didn`t have to use sex or sexuality to define myself.

I was always inventing characters and making up stories.

Girls are crazy and mean. They don`t fight fair.

It takes as much discipline to be a mother and a wife as it does to do anything else.

In the end, my pursuit of the elusive New York State driver`s license became about much more than a divorced woman`s learning to drive for the first time.

Sometimes I listen to songs by very smart writers who assume that the world is a civil place with certain formalities that people follow, but I don`t see things that way. My own experience tells me that life is not like that.

So you eat, you sleep, and then this wonderful child comes out, but you don`t feel like you have any control over that process, over her, over her character and who she is.

Of course, sometimes when you write personally, you are also writing about society, obliquely reflecting topical issues, but not in a way that people would expect you to or in the way that someone trying to make a point would.

I wasn`t afraid of going places or doing new things. I would do just about anything or go anywhere. I`d get a notion in my mind and just follow it.

I wouldn`t characterize my work, however, as directly political.

Don`t make a threat and then not do it.

How weird it was to drive streets I knew so well. What a different perspective.

Writing in other voices is almost Japanese in the sense that there`s a certain formality there which allows me to sidestep the embarrassment of directly expressing to complete strangers the most intimate details of my life.

To me, a feminist belongs in the same category as a humanist or an advocate for human rights. I don`t see why someone who`s a feminist should be thought of differently.

Some girls are taught to be sexy.

A lot of my writing is not terribly civilized.

There are no rules in fights with girls. Just hurting.

I think that if you have a strong narrative, if the idea of the song can be boiled down to the basics, it won`t change that much.

When I was pregnant, I felt filled with life, and I felt really happy. I ate well, and I slept well. I felt much more useful than I`d ever felt before.

I had some fears as a kid, but I was also relatively fearless. Maybe that`s a result of living half the time in reality and the other half in fantasy.

"My idea of a perfect folk song is something in a minor key with a tragic ending - preferably suicide or madness. Something with no chorus. Something with sex and violence."