Writing cant change the world overnight, but writing may have an enormous effect over time, over the long haul.

But sometimes what we call 'memory' and what we call 'imagination' are not so easily distinguished.

He made a story for all of them, a story to give them strength. The words of the story poured out of his mouth as if they had substance, pebbles and stone extending to hold the corporal up...knees from buckling...hands from letting go of the blanket.

Then they grow away from the earth then they grow away from the sun then they grow away from the plants and the animals. They see no life. When they look they see only objects. The world is a dead thing for them the trees and the rivers are not alive. the mountains and stones are not alive. The deer and bear are objects. They see no life. They fear. They fear the world. They destroy what they fear. They fear themselves.

the snow ... came in thick tufts like new wool - washed before the weaver spins it.

But as long as you remember what you have seen, then nothing is gone. As long as you remember, it is part of this story we have together.

Fortunately, her year of graduate classes prepared her for obnoxious conduct.