But On The Other Hand, I Don't

We Are The Planet, Fully As Much As Water, Earth, Fire And Air Are The Planet, And If The Planet Survives, It Will Only Be Through Heroism. Not Occasional Heroism, A Remarkable Instance Of It Here And There, But Constant Heroism, Systematic Heroism, Heroism As Governing Principle.

First Of All It's Usually Women Who Run These Higher Primate Sanctuaries, Rarely Men. They Are White. They Come From Privileged Backgrounds. They Are Educated.

It Was Strange To Stand There In Front Of The Mirror And See Myself Like I Was My Own Best Friend, A Kid Wanted To Hang With Forever. This Was A Boy I Could Travel To The Seacoasts With, A Boy I'd Like To Meet Up With In Foreign Cities Like Calcutta And London And Brazil, A Boy I Could Trust Who Also Had A Good Sense Of Humor And Liked Smoked Oysters From A Can And Good Weed And The Occasional 40 Ounces Of Malt. If I Was Going To Be Alone For The Rest Of My Life This Was The Person I Wanted To Be Alone With.

But Really, It Was Reading That Led Me To Writing. And In Particular, Reading The American Classics Like Twain Who Taught Me At An Early Age That Ordinary Lives Of Ordinary People Can Be Made Into High Art.

What I Am Finding Now Is That My Audience Is Getting Younger As I Get Older, Which Is A Very Good Thing As You Know - You Don't Want Them To Get Older As You Get Older.