"Every now and then I have a few highly publicized affairs. I thought I owed that to my biographer." And other brilliant thoughts by Rita Mae Brown.

I have decided to take advantage of the blog format to show off some of my celebrity quotes/photos that went unused in the article format. Like these of Rita Mae Brown, who is bold, brash, truthful and unapologetic. Talking to Rita Mae was a pleasure as I have admired her since my dawn-of-realization- about-sex-and-feminism-and-the-wildlife-youth.

(photo credit goes to my artist-buttonmaker-lesbianwriter advocate mother, Jennifer Yane who accompanied me to the reading at the downtown public library.)

"If there’s going to be a scandal I’d much rather it be sex than money and we Virginians don’t disappoint. As mother always said, only be as good as you need to be. She used to trail clouds of men."

"I’ve hunted for so long that I’m also part of the fox family. I know the foxes, and I also know the fox children. They are more intelligent than we are and I’m not just saying that to be cute. We have ideologies that make us stupid. The fox has no ideology, they see reality exactly the way it is. We are a deluded species and now a dangerous one."

(My brilliant question) As a lesbian, do you have a different take on Southern manners?

After all those years of cotillion, it doesn’t matter if you’re gay or straight, all those old biddies are going to get you. I have a whimsical regard for gender. Americans are dualistic; I’m slippery, slidery, in some ways it’s tougher than boot camp. They all had bosoms like flight decks. You're little and all you think is "My eyes! My eyes!" Argue your deepest beliefs at the soup kitchen or voting booth, but the south is absolutely right in trying to make parties pleasant."

Isn't she brilliant and hard and leathery and deep? Yes, I thought so too.