You know you've reached a new plateau of group mediocrity when even a Canadian is alarmed by your lack of individuality.
Sarah VowellBeing a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know.
Sarah VowellIn these fast and fickle times, itโs nice to know that there are some things you can always count on: the enduring brilliance of the last page of The Great Gatsby; the near-religious harmonies of the Beach Boysโ โCalifornia Girlsโ; and the lifelong friendship of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Sarah VowellIf I'm still wistful about On the Road, I look on the rest of the Kerouac oeuvre--the poems, the poems!--in horror. Read Satori in Paris lately? But if I had never read Jack Kerouac's horrendous poems, I never would have had the guts to write horrendous poems myself. I never would have signed up for Mrs. Safford's poetry class the spring of junior year, which led me to poetry readings, which introduced me to bad red wine, and after that it's all just one big blurry condemned path to journalism and San Francisco.
Sarah VowellThere are people who look forward to spending their sunset years in the sunshine; it is my own retirement dream to await my death indoors, dragging strangers up dusty staircases while coughing up one of the most thrilling phrases in the English language: 'It was on this spotโฆ' My fantasy is to one day become a docent.
Sarah Vowell