Life Doesn't Retreat.

In Such Seconds Of Decision Entire Futures Are Made.

There Were Reprints Of American Editorials. Liberals Saw It As A Resurgence Of Social Protest And Decried The Discrimination, Poverty, And Hunger That Had Provoked It. Conservative Columnists Acidly Pointed Out That Hungry People Don't Steal Stereo Systems First And Called For A Crackdown In Law Enforcement. All Of The Reasoned Editorials Sounded Hollow In Light Of The Perverse Randomness Of The Event. It Was As If Only A Thin Wall Of Electric Lighting Protected The Great Cities Of The World From Total Barbarism.

It Occurs To Me That Our Survival May Depend Upon Our Talking To One Another.

The Never-ending Competition Between Writers Hasn't Changed Between 1868 And 2000. I Used To Belong To Writers' Workshops With Other Professionals, But That Becomes Impossible After A While. Everyone's On A Different Step Of The Career Ladder. Jealousy Doesn't Have To Erupt Into Murder And Burying Someone In Wells Cathedral, But It Is Always There.

Words Were Like Objects, Making The Idea More Solid -- Less A Poisonous Gas And More A ... Cube Of Crystallized Thought.