What I think happens, and that you have to acknowledge though, is that a director uses a book as a launching pad for his own work and that's always very flattering.

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

I come from a family of great readers and storytellers.

I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy. Each of these innocents on the street is engulfed by a terror of their own ordinariness. They would do anything to be unique.

Just as a snowflakewent on to feed a puddle that filled a stream and then the river, thepumpkin patch is a gathering of molecules from my old goats, chickens,and cats, feeding the underworld of dirt creatures. And somewhere, myfather's ashes mingle with birds, air, and sea.

I am here, come closer," the old donkey said with her eyes. "I will mother you.

But the idea that women can't take care of themselves still permeates our culture.