Perhaps the strongest evidence that women have as broad and deep a capacity for physical aggression as men is anecdotal. And as with men, this capacity has expressed itself in acts from the brave to the brutal, the selfless to the senseless.

I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out.

Were also far enough from the publishing power that we have no access to the politics of publishing, although there are interpersonal politics, of course.

Let's just say, the American school of suburban angst is not my cup of tea.

We survive until, by sheer stamina, we escape into the dim innocence of our own adulthood and its forgetfulness.

My perception of the human animal is as an extremely dangerous predator. That's who I perceive us to be as a species. Maybe the most dangerous predator on the planet, with the exception of a few microbes. I'm really grateful for the degree of socialization that prevents us, most of the time, from killing and eating each other. And I admire all the social structures that have been designed and layered and niched in that encourage bonding toward a kind of social harmony that is meant to contain and counteract our natural inclinations toward predation, ferocity, and eating whatever moves.

My worst is all out in the open. It makes it necessary for people to tell you about themselves.