Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I'll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. MONSTER.

It is this language of values which I hope to bring to my books. . . . I want to bring values to those who have not been valued, and I want to etch those values in terms of the ideal. Young people need ideals which identify them, and their lives, as central . . . guideposts which tell them what they can be, should be, and indeed are.

America believes what's good for us is good for the world. It's very difficult to understand that that's not necessarily true.

Writers do not write what they know. They write what they can imagine.

When we think of war, the tendency is to picture young soldiers only in their military roles. To a large extent this dehumanizes the soldiers and makes it easier for society to commit them to combat.

We all know we should eat right and we should exercise, but reading is treated as if it's this wonderful adjunct.

Can you become The hope I need? Can you help me be More than it is written in my future Or past? Is there another me to find?