Guys don't understand great art. They don't care that sometimes the camera has power beyond the photographer to record emotion that only the heart can see. They're threatened when the camera jumps ahead of me. Todd Kovich was pissed when I brought my Nikon to the prom, but I'd missed too many transcendent shots over the years to ever take a chance of missing one again. A prom, I told him, had a boundless supply of photogenic bozos who could be counted on to do something base.

A heart will say amazing things if it's given half a chance.

Sometimes just getting up in the morning and standing at the gate can bring the gate down.

It was February sixth: eight days until Valentine's Day. I was dateless, as usual, deep in the vice grip of unrequited love. It was bad enough not having a boyfriend for New Year's Eve. Now I had to cope with Valentine datelessness, feeling consummate social pressure from every retailer in America who stuck hearts and cupids in their windows by January second to rub it in.

When the going gets tough, the tough get a librarian.

"You could lie to me. You could tell me to be encouraged, that good will triumph over evil.""Good will triumph over evil," said Richard. "Liar."

Like my grandmother always said, 'you never know the blessings that come from suffering.