Families are ecosystems. Each life grows in response to the lives around it

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft

The Thanksgiving meal should not be treated as a grad school exam or an Olympic dive. Whatever you cook will be good enough - unless you make that Twinkie turkey stuffing we're suddenly hearing too much about.

The secret to happiness, at Thanksgiving or any time, is to reframe obligation as opportunity. You don't have to spend Thanksgiving with your family. You get to.

The first gay person I ever met was surely not the first gay person I ever met.

Thanksgiving without tension is like a Thanksgiving without turkey. It can be done, but it is not the norm.

Chicago is constantly auditioning for the world, determined that one day, on the streets of Barcelona, in Berlin's cabarets, in the coffee shops of Istanbul, people will know and love us in our multidimensional glory, dream of us the way they dream of San Francisco and New York.