How Do You Explain To Yourself The

And Like Most Middle-aged People Who Hear The Clock Ticking In Their Lives, I Had Come To Resent A Waste Or Theft Of My Time That Was Greater Than Any Theft Of My Goods Or Money.

Don't Ever Quit. Never Quit. Never Show Anybody You're Hurt. Grin And Walk Through The Cannon Smoke. It Will Drive Them Up The Wall. You Always Stay True To Your Own Principles. You Always Believe In Your Gift. God Doesn't Make Mistakes When He Presents Someone With A Gift Like That. It's There For A Reason. Tell The Naysayers, Those Who Reject You, To Drop Dead! Who Cares?

Write For The Love Of Your Art. Someplace Down The Road, The Money, The Fame, They'll Come, But By That Time You Won't Be Thinking In Terms Of Money Or Fame.

I Feel Blessed In The Knowledge That I Probably Belong To The Last Generation That Will Remember What We Call "traditional America."

I Also Believe My Home State Is Cursed By Ignorance And Poverty And Racism, Much Of It Deliberately Inculcated To Control A Vulnerable Electorate. And I Believe Many Of The Politicians In Louisiana Are Among The Most Stomach-churning Examples Of White Trash And Venality I Have Ever Known. To Me, The Fact That Large Numbers Of People Find Them Humorously Picaresque Is Mind Numbing, On A Level With Telling Fond Tales Of One's Rapist.