Everybody Sounds Stoned, Because They're E-mailing People

I Listened To Classic Rock And Roll, And Punk Rock. 'goon Squad' Provides A Pretty Accurate Playlist Of My Teenage Years, Though It Leaves Out 'the Who,' Which Was My Absolute Favorite Band.

At Night, The House Thick With Sleep, She Would Peer Out Her Bedroom Window At The Trees And Sky And Feel The Presence Of A Mystery. Some Possibility That Included Her--separate From Her Present Life And Without Its Limitations. A Secret. Riding In The Car With Her Father, She Would Look Out At Other Cars Full Of People She'd Never Seen, Any One Of Whom She Might Someday Meet And Love, And Would Feel The World Holding Her Making Its Secret Plans.

I Think Ethical Ambivalence Is A Kind Of Innoculation, A Way Of Excusing Yourself In Advance For Something You Actually Want To Do. No Offense.

There's Something Very Strange About Associating Me With That Prize. I Had Hoped For It In A More Directed Way As A Journalist. Somehow As A Journalist You Know There Are Pulitzers Out There And You Can Work Hard And Get One. To Win It For Fiction Seems Unbelievable.

I've Never Been That Confident. I Don't Tend To Think, Swaggeringly, I'm Going To Ace This. It's Just Not Who I Am.