I can't think of anything to write about except families. They are a metaphor for every other part of society.

Over the last twenty years, we've changed the world just enough to make it radically different, but not enough to make it work.

an the president bring out the voters who were so enthusiastic about him in 2008 and seem a little disenchanted now? Can he bring out young people? Can he bring out Latinos? Can he bring out those white suburban moms?

I stopped going to mass, and boy, it was painful for me, and it was certainly painful for my family, but I just couldn't ratify their behavior and their decisions anymore by showing up on Sundays.

Barack Obama presents as kind of a cool character, and I think that that's his natural personality.

Sometimes change came all at once, with a sound like a fire taking hold of dry wood and paper, with a roar that rose around you so you couldn't hear yourself think. And then, when the roar died down, even when the fires were damped, everything was different.

You want to have fun with your kids, and no one has fun with someone who runs roughshod.