Now We're E-mailing And Tweeting And Texting

'brave' Is One Of Those Words That Has Been Bleached Of Most Of Its Meaning These Days, Thanks To Far Too Many Appearances In The Glaring Light Of Ad Slogans And Corporate Public Relations. I Never Thought About Anything As Brave Anymore; It Just Seemed Like A Flabby, Glib Cliche.

I'm Much More Willing To Buy A Novel Electronically By Someone I Don't Know. Because If Halfway Through I Think, I Don't Really Like This, I Can Just Stop. I Can't Throw Books Out, Even If I Think They're Crummy. I Feel Like I've Got To Give It To The Library. I've Got To Loan It To Somebody, Or I Keep It On My Shelf. It's Like A Plant.

Election Day Outside Of Big Cities Is Different. For One Thing, There Are So Few People In My Town That Each Individual Vote Really Does Matter, And Several Local Races Have Been Decided By As Many Votes As You Can Count On One Hand.

I've Used Twitter Now And Again To Try To Figure Something Out; It's An Amazing Resource. But I Think You Have To Use It Judiciously: It's A Self-selected Group, So It's Important Not To Start Thinking Of It As The Whole World.

There Are Cultures That Believe Having Your Photograph Taken Steals Your Soul. I Don't Think There Is A Stolen Soul In A Picture, But Still - Why Is It So Hard To Throw Them Away?