Civility, It Is Said, Means Obeying The

I Am A Political Recidivist. An Incorrigible, Repeat Voter. A Career Lever-pusher. My Electoral Rap Sheet Is As Long As Your Arm. Over The Course Of Three Decades, I Have Voted For Presidents And School Board Members. I Have Voted In High Hopes And High Dudgeon. I Have Voted In Favor Of Candidates And Merely Against Their Opponents. I Have Voted For Propositions Written With Such Complexity That I Needed Noam Chomsky To Deconstruct Their Meaning. I Have Been A Single-issue Voter And A Marginal Voter. I Have Even Voted For People Who Ran Unopposed. Hold An Election And I'll Be There.

Parents Remain Our Touchstones, Fellow Travelers, Even After Death. They Are Both Missing And Present.

The Central Paradox Of Motherhood Is That While Our Children Become The Absolute Center Of Our Lives, They Must Also Push Us Backout In The World.... But Motherhood That Can Narrow Our Lives Can Also Broaden Them. It Can Make Us Focus Intensely On The Moment And Invest Heavily In The Future.

The Average Parent May, For Example, Plant An Artist Or Fertilize A Ballet Dancer And End Up With A Certified Public Accountant. We Cannot Train Children Along Chicken Wire To Make Them Grow In The Right Direction. Tying Them To Stakes Is Frowned Upon, Even In Massachusetts.

When Speech Is Divorced From Speaker And Word From Meaning, What Is Left Is Just Ritual, Language As Ritual.