You'll reach into your wallet to brandish a photograph of a new puppy, and a friend will say, 'Oh, no - not pictures.

What is this drive to be thinner, prettier, better dressed, other? Who exactly is this other and what does she look like beyond the jacket she's wearing or the food she's not eating? What might we be doing, thinking, feeling about if we didn't think about body image, ever?

Me, I walk along and feel quietly defensive, a recluse in the Land of We. That's quite the loaded word, 'we.

The hard things in life, the things you really learn from, happen with a clear mind.

When you love somebody, or something, its amazing how willing you are to overlook the flaws.

It happened this way: I fell in love and then, because the love was ruining everything I cared about, I had to fall out.

Happy and alone, you say? Reclusive and merry? How oxymoronic! Pas possible! Alas, the concept is lost on so many.