One of the odd enjoyments in life is to be alone in a room full of people. To have them there as unknowing human filler in your wide shot.

If American forces leave Afghanistan, the Taliban is going to do what to America? Don't say you're worried about what they will do to the Afghan people. If that was America's concern, America's operational presence there would be much different.

To my ears, jazz sounds better in warm weather and after the sun has gone down. While I will listen to some of my favorite jazz records in cooler weather, it's the warmer nights that really make them come alive. Something about those sounds and the heat of the night really makes it happen for me.

The arts in America exist in spite of America, not because of America.

I lay off a lot modern fiction and only rely on living writers for non-fiction work.

Each year, every city in the world that can should have a multiday festival. More people meeting each other, digging new types of music, new foods, new ideas. You want to stop having so many wars? This could be a step in the right direction.

I am neither pro- nor anti-gun. I am gun-conscious.