All I Wanted Was To Be Straight

One Of The Few Graces Of Getting Old - And God Knows There Are Few Graces - Is That If You've Worked Hard And Kept Your Nose To The Grindstone, Something Happens: The Body Gets Old But The Creative Mechanism Is Refreshed, Smoothed And Oiled And Honed. That Is The Grace. That Is What's Happening To Me.

I Often Went To Bed Without Supper Cause I Hated My Mother's Cooking. So, To Go To Bed Without Supper Was Not A Torture To Me. If She Was Gonna Hurt Me, She'd Make Me Eat.

I Am Not A Religious Person, Nor Do I Have Any Regrets. The War Took Care Of That For Me. You Know, I Was Brought Up Strictly Kosher, But I - It Made No Sense To Me. It Made No Sense To Me What Was Happening. So Nothing Of It Means Anything To Me. Nothing. Except These Few Little Trivial Things That Are Related To Being Jewish. ... You Know Who My Gods Are, Who I Believe In Fervently? Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson - She's Probably The Top - Mozart, Shakespeare, Keats. These Are Wonderful Gods Who Have Gotten Me Through The Narrow Straits Of Life.

[drawing] And Making Things Was All We Ever Did. My Brother And I Built The Entire New York World's Fair Of 1939 In Miniature Out Of Wax. The Floor Of Our Room Was Covered With Little Waxen Buildings. Nobody Else Could Come In.

Newt Gingrich Is An Idiot Of Great Renown... There's Something So Hopelessly Gross And Vile About Him It's Hard To Take Him Seriously.