This boy thinks I am not of his species, that I am some other kind of creature, one that can be crushed under the weight of a phone book. The pain is not great, but the symbolism is disagreeable.

You're breaking out of character, again.

I had grown up as a fan of Studs Terkel. In Chicago he sort of looms large and is mentioned often.

No one’s forcing you to do this. You willingly tie yourself to these leashes. And you willingly become utterly socially autistic. You no longer pick up on basic human communication clues. You’re at a table with three humans, all of whom are looking at you and trying to talk to you, and you’re staring at a screen, searching for strangers in Dubai.

One might think that a boy who was out in the snow for so long would get cold, but Max was not. He was warm, partly because he had on many layers, and partly because boys who are part wolf and part wind do not get cold.

Loneliness is just a thing that I'm not personally interested in. So far, it hasn't been on my docket of things to write about.

The only thing that everyone needs to look out for is keeping the students reading through high school and thereafter.