I sat down next to her. Took her hand. This can work, I said. All we have to do is try.

It might interest you that just as the U.S. was ramping up its involvement in Vietnam, LBJ launched an illegal invasion of the Dominican Republic (April 28, 1965). (Santo Domingo was Iraq before Iraq was Iraq.)

I never hear white writers get asked, 'Do you worry about how you represent white people?'

I'm part of the people who are more neutral. I'm just waiting for the dust to settle so that we can turn our guns against the Republicans.

You ask everybody you know: How long does it usually take to get over it? There are many formulas. One year for every year you dated. Two years for every year you dated. It's just a matter of will power: The day you decide it's over, it's over. You never get over it.

As expected: she, the daughter of the Fall, recipient of its heaviest radiation, loved atomically.

Our relationship wasn't the sun, the moon, the stars, but it wasn't bullshit, either.