I'm At The Atheist End Of The

Organizer Is Kind Of A Grand Term For What I Was Doing.

I Have A Friend Who Lives In The South Side Of Chicago. I Helped Out At A Church Charity There Where They Try To Give A Bit Of Cohesion To A Desperate Area. Everyone Was Very Welcoming

This Was A Very Progressive Group Of Clergy Who Foresaw The Race Riots That Were Going To Take Place When Dr. King Started Helping The Local Civil Rights Community Push For Open Housing. They Were Sort Of Hoping Against Hope That We Could Educate Kids In A Way That Could Counter Some Of The Racist Messages They Were Imbibing At Home. I Don't Know Whether We Did Any Good, But It Changed My Life In Every Single Way.

The Decimation Of Lebanon Was Showing Up In Chicago As A Series Of Restaurants And Little Shops, Just As The Destruction Of Vietnam Had Been Visible Here A Decade Earlier. If You Never Read The News But Ate Out A Lot You Should Be Able To Tell Who Was Getting Beaten Up Around The World.

I Believe That To Create Real-seeming Characters, The Writer Must Be Willing To Go On A Voyage Of Self-exploration. It Can Be Revealing And Even Painful To Explore Your Own Weakness, But It Gives You Genuine Emotion. Characters In Fiction Come Alive Because Of The Believability Of Their Emotional Lives And That Is What I Strive To Create.