Beginning 'Beloved' with numerals rather than spelled out numbers, it was my intention to give the house an identity separate from the street or even the city.

My theory is that the world is a difficult place to live in and distraction is the name of the game.

We read about how Ajax and Achilles will die for each other, but very little about the friendship of women.

Access to knowledge is the superb, the supreme act of truly great civilizations. Of all the institutions that purport to do this, free libraries stand virtually alone in accomplishing this mission.

Deep, deep trouble. Can't rival the dead for love. Lose every time.

She is convinced that when language dies, out of carelessness, disuse, indifference and absence of esteem, or killed by fiat, not only she herself, but all users and makers are accountable for its demise. In her country children have bitten their tongues off and use bullets instead to iterate the voice of speechlessness, of disabled and disabling language, of language adults have abandoned altogether as a device for grappling with meaning, providing guidance, or expressing love.

It's bliss when you give up all that stuff that separates you from other human beings. It's hard, but you break down all that stuff.