Americans seem to be living in a state of fear about the world, one that just keeps intensifying. I mean, look at our cars and homes. They've become these massive barricades. Look at what we watch on TV and in the movies - it's all a bunch of violent ideation. And all these TV shows about dead bodies.
Steve AlmondWe are all, in the private kingdom of our hearts, desperate for the company of a wise, true friend. Someone who isnโt embarrassed by our emotions, or her own, who recognizes that life is short and all that we have to offer, in the end, is love.
Steve AlmondThere's something incredibly liberating about a holiday that encourages children to take candy from strangers
Steve AlmondEven a hundred and fifty years ago, football was popular because it provided a manly spectacle that lots of men needed, after the industrial revolution. We went from a culture that lived out doors and expanded the frontier and fought the Indians to a bunch of guys in offices. So football provided this jolt, a kind of exalted cult of masculinity. And it still does that. Perhaps even more so today.
Steve AlmondThe single biggest reason I got my stories taken in various literary magazines - and I want to stress this - is because I refused to give up. Period.
Steve AlmondYou've got all these parents who are projecting their pathologies of fear onto their kids and those kids are understandably messed up. Tragedies happen and that you have to allow kids to experience their own fear and guilt and sorrow. It's the cover-up that really screws people over. Unfortunately, America specializes in cover-ups.
Steve Almond