About Dish It Up, Baby

"We lived on the banks of the Tennessee River, and we owned the summers when we were girls. We ran wild through humid summer days that never ended but only melted one into the other. We floated down rivers of weekdays with no school, no rules, no parents, and no constructs other than our fantasies. We were good girls, my sister and I. We had nothing to rebel against. This was just life as we knew it, and we knew the summers to be long and to be ours."

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"When we finished eating, the waitress brought the check over and sat down at the table. She told us that the subways go "uptown" and "downtown" and that there are detailed transit maps posted in every station. She said I should hold my purse tight, but not too tight or people would think I was a tourist. She told me that her manager could help us find an apartment... She told me that New York City was an incredible place to live and that every day I would find the power and strength on the streets that I had never felt before. She told me that living there was going to be a pain in the ass, but whenever I felt the city getting under my skin. Whenever it felt too difficult to go on. She told me that I should stand on the nearest street corner with my arms outstretched and my head held high and yell as loudly as I could, "Go ahead and dish it up, baby!""