“Listening over and over to the voices through a family of instruments allowed us to recognize and appreciate the dignity and uniqueness of each living thing in the meadow and forest.”

“Each of us has one. Each voice is distinct and has something to say. Each voice deserves to be heard. But it requires the act of listening.”

“Story is the umbilical cord that connects us to the past, present, and future. Family. Story is a relationship between the teller and the listener, a responsibility. . . . Story is an affirmation of our ties to one another.”

“Women piece together their lives from the scraps left over for them.”

“We know the quality of another’s heart through her voice.”

“Beauty is transformed over time, and not without destruction.”

“I could not separate the Bird Refuge from my family. Devastation respects no boundaries. The landscape of my childhood and the landscape of my family, the two things I had always regarded as bedrock, were now subject to change. Quicksand.”