She was clean": no piercings, tattoos, or scarifications. All the kids were now. And who could blame them, Alex thought, after watching three generations of flaccid tattoos droop like moth-eaten upholstery over poorly stuffed biceps and saggy asses?

Sure, everything is ending," Jules said, "but not yet.

At night, the house thick with sleep, she would peer out her bedroom window at the trees and sky and feel the presence of a mystery. Some possibility that included her--separate from her present life and without its limitations. A secret. Riding in the car with her father, she would look out at other cars full of people she'd never seen, any one of whom she might someday meet and love, and would feel the world holding her making its secret plans.

The music industry is an interesting lens through which to look at change, because it has had such a difficult time adjusting to the digital age.

I guess it's always romantic when two people fall in love.... Even if it turns out not to be real.

Americans are less selfish than some of our politicians believe and will respond with reason and resilience to passionate clarity.

I don’t want to fade away, I want to flame away - I want my death to be an attraction, a spectacle, a mystery. A work of art.