The complicated futility of ignorance.

There is no shortage of wonderful writers. What we lack is a dependable mass of readers.

The canary bird in the coal mine theory of the arts: artists should be treasured as alarm systems.

Perhaps some people really are born unhappy. I surely hope not. Speaking for my sister and myself: We were born with the capacity and determination to be utterly happy all the time. Perhaps even in this we were freaks. Hi ho.

There was a time when I could vote for economic justice, and I can't anymore.

Symbols can be so beautiful, sometimes.

1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them.