A Novelist Has Two Lives--

There Are Five Things That Societies Do: They Reproduce; They Produce Food; They Organize Themselves In Terms Of Law; They Organize Themselves In Terms Of Belief; And They Make Art. Four Of Them Are About Conformity, And In These, Everything Would Go More Smoothly If People Just Would Shut Up And Do What They're Told. But In Art It Doesn't Work That Way.

One Of The Profound Effects Of Economics In Our Day Is That The People With The Money And The Power Have Embraced The Guilt-free, External-less, Everything-will-turn-out-okay-in-the-end Philosophy Of Economics In Order To Justify Their Own Evil Works. And The Economists, For The Most Part, Have Sucked Up To That Money.

I Had Spent Years Thinking About One Thing While I Was Doing Another. I Had, In Fact, Prided Myself On Being Able To Do Two Things At Once.

Giving His Lecture For The Third Time Freed Dr. Lionel Gift From Paying Much Attention To It. He Had A Naturally Expressive Style Of Delivery, Hones Over The Years In Elementary-econ Lecture Halls. He Knew, Without Even Thinking, To Address The Middle Rows Of The Hall, But To Occasionally "shoot" The Listeners In The Back Corners. He Knew How To Make Eye Contact And Solicit The Attention Of Those Who Were Thinking Of Other Things.

The Brave View Is That Talking It Out Helps Work It Out. Maybe The Realistic View Is That Talking It Out Inflames The Issues Further. But That Is America, Especially These Days.