That Adage About 'write What

Rebecca Was An Academic Star. Her New Book Was On The Phenomenon Of Word Casings, A Term She'd Invented For Words That No Longer Had Meaning Outside Quotation Marks. English Was Full Of These Empty Words--"friend" And "real" And "story" And "change"--words That Had Been Shucked Of Their Meanings And Reduced To Husks. Some, Like "identity" And "search" And "cloud," Had Clearly Been Drained Of Life By Their Web Usage. With Others, The Reasons Were More Complex; How Had "american" Become An Ironic Term? How Had "democracy" Come To Be Used In An Arch, Mocking Way?

Being Somewhere But Not Completely: That Was Home For Danny. . . . All He Needed Was A Cellphone Or I-access, Or Both At Once, Or Even Just A Plan To Leave Wherever He Was And Go Someplace Else Really Really Soon.

She Looks Like Someone I Want To Know, Or Maybe Even Be.

Now That Scotty Has Entered The Realm Of Myth, Everyone Wants To Own Him. And Maybe They Should. Doesn't A Myth Belong To Everyone?

I Was A Stepchild In Two Different Families. The Hardest Thing About Being A Stepchild Is You Know That In Some Way Everything Would Be Easier If You Didnt Exist.