Well I'm from North Carolina
from Northampton County
small town: Rich Square, North Carolina
However, I moved here as a transplant, sort of
I went to - my parents are from -
Well my mom's from Rich Square, but they lived in Washington, DC
That's where my dad's family was from
And I just came early, so that's how I ended up being born in Ahoskie, North Carolina
But then they divorced when I was in middle school
And then I moved to live with my grandma, and she moved to California
My mom moved to California, not my grandma. I stayed here.
So my heart and spirit and roots are in North Carolina
I love North Carolina
I love the crickets at night
I love the fact that I grew up eating organic food before it was called organic
That if I wanted - whatever we had for dinner, we went to the garden and got
And my granddad was a butcher
So I had no idea when I was growing up
when relatives would come visit
my grandma would go get steaks
and it was a big deal, everyone always loved to come to our house to eat
and I - it was no big deal
even though I became a vegetarian - that drove them crazy for awhile -
the fact is that there were t-bone steaks, the best cuts
you know, there were hams, we always had the smell of a ham
out in the pantry
It just was a beautiful
existence; lots of family
lots of long conversations about whether the gloves matched a bag
you know, just forty-five minutes of
"I can't believe she had that pocketbook."
"Did you see that pocketbook?"
And I loved that. I was very narrative
And it smells good, you know, the earth. I just love it.