I guess if I had to pick a spiritual figurehead to possess the deed to the entirety of Earth, I'd go with Buddha, but only because he wouldn't want it.

I'm not really the scented envelope kid of girl, preferring instead to send yellow Jiffy-lite mailers packed with whatever song is on my mind.

I still believe in public radio's potential. Because it's the one mass medium that's still crafted almost entirely by true believers.

I spent a lot of time with some native Hawaiians who protest being part of the United States and literally carry protest signs saying "We are not Americans." And they have no real warmth for being the 50th state.

Jesus and Lincoln, Moses and Jefferson can seem so long gone, so unbelievable, so dead.

When I think about my relationship with America, I feel like a battered wife: Yeah, he knocks me around a lot, but boy, he sure can dance.

American history is a quagmire, and the more one knows, the quaggier the mire gets.