American Companies Spend More Than

Around The Time I Began Starving, In The Early Eighties, The Visual Image Had Begun To Supplant Text As Culture's Primary Mode Of Communication, A Radical Change Because Images Work So Differently Than Words: They're Immediate, They Hit You At Levels Way Beneath Intellect, They Come Fast And Furious.

Cats Are Narcissistic. Their Needs Come Before Ours. They Don't Understand The Word "no." They Carry Themselves With That Aloof, Arrogant Sense Of Perpetual Entitlement, They Will Jump Up And Insinuate Themselves Wherever They Please--on Your Lap, On Your Newspaper, On Your Computer Keyboard--and They Really Couldn't Care Less How Their Behavior Affects The People In Their Lives. I've Had Boyfriends Like This; Who Needs Such Behavior In A Housepet?

Passivity Is Corrosive To The Soul; It Feeds On Feelings Of Integrity And Pride, And It Can Be As Tempting As A Drug.

There's Something About Sober Living And Sober Thinking, About Facing Long Afternoons Without The Numbing Distraction Of Anesthesia That Disabuses You Of The Belief In The Externals, Shows You That Strength And Hope Come Not From Circumstances Or The Acquisition Of Things, But From The Simple Accumulation Of Active Experience, From Gritting The Teeth And Checking The Items Off The List, One By One, Even If It's Painful And You're Afraid.

Smooth And Ordered On The Outside; Roiling And Chaotic And Desperately Secretive Underneath, But Not Noticeably So, Never Noticeably So.