4 Quotes by Carleen Brice

Everywhere I turned it seemed to be yelling “Be happy, damn it!” Like those guys who always insist on telling you to smile. Total strangers! Well, what if I didn’t feel like smiling? What if I didn’t have a good goddamn thing to be happy about?

What is it with guys that they think their interest is such a compliment, that when they hit on you, no matter how crudely, they think they’re doing you such a big fat favor? No matter how young or how old or how ugly or broke down they are, they all seem to think they are the sun and truly expect any woman to bask in their glow.

I had read them and congratulated myself for being black, as if I had chosen to be, because black women were feminists before there was a name for it.

She was tall and stout with a firm jaw and a glossy platinum braid sitting on each shoulder. She was wearing denim overalls, a blue T-shirt, and lots of rings and gold bangle bracelets. I imagined her with one of those horned helmets that cartoon opera singers always wear. Nona’s very own Warrior Princess.