People in the land of LaLa look like expensive wax fruit. And they work hard to achieve that look.

Sadly, because of the enormous gap between rich and poor, some mothers can afford helpers, but many can't. Those who can would be kinder to refrain from criticizing other women.

All my forebears worked for a living. My grandfather painted portraits. My mother too. My aunt painted seascapes.

Love is everything it's cracked up to be

It's hard to do fiction and nonfiction simultaneously.

Each one an antidote to the one that went before. Each one a reaction, an about-face, a rebound.

The desire for magic cannot be eradicated. Even the most supposedly rational people attempt to practice magic in love and war. We simultaneously possess the most primitive of brain stems and the most sophisticated of cortices. The imperatives of each coexist uneasily.