It's no accident that most self-help groups use 'anonymous' in their names; to Americans, the first step toward redemption is a ritual wiping out of the self, followed by the construction of a new one.

Quiet cunning bested boastful brawn

What was more humiliating, I wondered: having to beg for someone's cold chicken bones or being offered them?

It looked like just the sort of family Americans dream of having: dumb and loving.

Other people's devotions embarrassed me, perhaps because, like other people's kisses, they rarely looked genuine when viewed too closely.

It's no accident that most self-help groups use 'anonymous' in their names; to Americans, the first step toward redemption is a ritual wiping out of the self, followed by the construction of a new one.

Art, art of any kind, shows that folks are trying.