I went to college at the University of Kansas, where I got a degree in political science.

Sometimes life seems so painful it hurts even to move my arms.

But what I've learned is, when your adrenaline is flowing, you can do a lot. I'm not very physical, but once some punks were trying to break into my house and I chased them down.

Sisters in Crime now has more than 4,000 members worldwide.

Capo, my first golden retriever, so loved to swim she once jumped off a cliff to get into Lake Superior.

She knew the intensity of adolescence, and knew no cure for it except growing up. And then one has age and experience, and mourns the loss of intensity. Maybe it's why musicians and mathmaticians are said to peak young-poetry needs the fire of an unbounded universe.

I have a friend who lives in the South Side of Chicago. I helped out at a church charity there where they try to give a bit of cohesion to a desperate area. Everyone was very welcoming