I guess I was seeking some balance in the wildlife of the city as Rachel Carson sought it in nature. In unbalanced times, balance is as difficult to come by as Parsifal's Grail.

We are living in the United States of Alzheimer's. A whole country has lost its memory. When it can't remember yesterday, a country forgets what it once wanted to be.

Hope never trickles down. It always springs up.

The issue is jobs. You can't get away from it: jobs. Having a buck or two in your pocket and feeling like somebody.

I'm not up on the Internet, but I hear that is a democratic possibility. People can connect with each other. I think people are ready for something, but there is no leadership to offer it to them. People are ready to say, 'Yes, we are part of a world.

I have a big mouth, and I never met a petition I didn't like, so of course in the McCarthy days I got in trouble.

But once you become active in something, something happens to you. You get excited and suddenly you realize you count.