Forty Is ... An Age At Which

I Don't Know Exactly Why The Notion Of Homeownership Has Such A Grasp On The American Imagination. Perhaps As Descendants Of Landless Immigrants We Turn Our Plots Into Symbols Of Stability.

Parents Remain Our Touchstones, Fellow Travelers, Even After Death. They Are Both Missing And Present.

Forty Is ... An Age At Which People Have Histories And Options. At Thirty, They Had Perhaps Less History. At Fifty, Perhaps Fewer Options.

I Rewrite A Great Deal. I'm Always Fiddling, Always Changing Something. I'll Write A Few Words - Then I'll Change Them. I Add. I Subtract. I Work And Fiddle And Keep Working And Fiddling, And I Only Stop At The Deadline.

In Journalism, There Has Always Been A Tension Between Getting It First And Getting It Right.