I think that Goldman Sachs and the Pentagon determine more of America's outcome then any president or any congress, that sounds a bit cynical, but I think I am right.

As a young person, I wanted everyone to agree with me.

I have always identified with Joan Didion's depiction of Los Angeles and Southern California, ever since reading 'Play It As It Lays,' 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem' and 'The White Album.'

Anywhere you hang yourself is home.

In my bright, utopian future world, they will hand out college educations like cups of water at the end of the L.A. Marathon.

To me, the real 'state of the union' is found in how Americans react to current events.

How memories lie to us. How time coats the ordinary with gold. How it breaks the heart to go back and attempt to re-live them. How crushed we are when we discover that the gold was merely gold-plating thinly coated over lead, chalk and peeling paint.