You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars.

It takes an earthquake to remind us that we walk on the crust of an unfinished planet.

I was on the high school track team, believe it or not, and played baseball, poorly but passionately.

I gained a great appreciation for what I would call the collective achievement of the country. I began thinking of America as a much more just and humane place than I would have thought if I'd been covering the civil rights struggle.

I believe that writing is derivative. I think good writing comes from good reading.

A true Southerner will never say in 2-3 words what can better be said in 10-12.

I think I'd have done better if I had been a little more relaxed-if I had not pressed quite so hard, if I'd not lost quite so much sleep.