James

by Percival Everett

At that moment the power of reading made itself clear and real to me. If I could see the words, then no one could control them or what I got from them. They couldn’t even know if I was merely seeing them or reading them, sounding them out or comprehending them. It was a completely private affair and completely free and, therefore, completely subversive.

With my pencil, I wrote myself into being.

“Folks be funny lak dat. Dey takes the lies dey want and throws away the truths dat scares ’em.”

“If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning.”