I felt just overwhelmed by input: the Vietnam War and the collapse of the '60s and the proliferation of media' it just felt like everything was too much to handle and you just tuned out.
Richard HellI decided I wanted out because it was killing me, and I couldnt see where to go with it that wouldnt be fatal.
Richard HellI like writing non-fiction - and when you pick a [non-fiction] subject, it saves you the hassle of coming up with a plot.
Richard HellThere's nothing left of my hometown in Kentucky. All those small and mid-sized towns and cities in the U.S. are just about malls around the edges and suburbs. That was definitely a loss, because everything just gets homogenized. You can't tell where you are, it's all the same.
Richard HellYou're always thinking, "What does that add up to?" You can't really get a handle on it. I was curious. I felt like it would be an interesting challenge for me to write down what I'd seen and done and learned - all the convolutions captured in one item that I could look at and get some grip on what the hell happened.
Richard Hell