That was the summer when everything we would become was hovering just over our heads.

We're accepted as long as we conform to what we are expected to be, and I'm sure that's not any different for anyone else.

For me, the battle isn't Hillary [Clinton] vs. [Bernie] Sanders. And I understand that for some people that's the battle. But for me, more than anything, it's stopping a Republican president.

Sadness at being caught, at the incontrovertibe knowledge that she will never forgive you.

As for my slowness as a writer - that's been a struggle, no question. We live in a culture that values and rewards machine-speed productivity. Even the arts are expected to conform to the Taylor model of productivity.

When she smiles niggers ask her for her hand in marriage; when I smile folks check their wallets.

You were at the age where you could fall in love with a girl over an expression, over a gesture. That's what happened with your girlfriend, Paloma- she stooped to pick up her purse and your heart flew out of you.