Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.

An affair wants to spill, to share its glory with the world. No act is so private it does not seek applause.

Existence itself does not feel horrible; it feels like an ecstasy, rather, which we have only to be still to experience.

Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went.

Faith is not so much a binary pole as a quantum state, which tends to indeterminacy when closely examined.

A photograph offers us a glimpse into the abyss of time.

From the standpoint of a Middle Eastern citizen, Americans look like a bully forcing our way of life on the Islamic way of life. The notion of purity is very important in Islam, and a lot of the negative warlike actions taken against us have to do with our physical presence in the Middle East. Osama bin Laden was trying to get the American, or protesting the American military presence in Saudi Arabia. It's not surprising that our strong presence in Iraq has produced a wave of resistance anger, extreme anger in some cases, and a permissive atmosphere that allows these people to go undetected.