| My parental roots were formed in the clay | | | | fighter jets from Andrews Air Force Base |
| packed soil of small towns in the Deep South. | | | | roaring across the skies or a tractor |
| From Cuthbert, Georgia to Marks, Mississippi | | | | sputtering along Oxen Hill Road. Once part |
| to Booneville, California some of my adult | | | | of small town America, Oxen Hill now is a |
| sensibilities also were shaped by small town | | | | toney, sprawling suburb just outside |
| America. But it was the summer of my | | | | Washington, D.C.Mornings began early that |
| greatest content that formed another | | | | summer of my eleventh year. I eagerly rose |
| essential dimension of my character.In 1955, | | | | with the sun that seemingly covered all the |
| Oxen Hill, Maryland was a place where the | | | | sky in Oxen Hill. |
| sacred silence was occasionally broken by | | | | |