Being adequately informed is a democratic duty, just as the vote is a democratic right. A misinformed electorate, voting without knowledge, is not a true democracy.

As a writer you have a duty to be a messenger.

Singing with others is an unmediated, shared experience as each person feels the same music reverberating in their individual bodies. Singing is part of our humanity; it is embodied empathy.

Human language is lit with animal life: we play cats-cradle or have hare-brained ideas; we speak of badgering, or outfoxing someone; to squirrel something away and to ferret it out.

My wife, my daughter, and my son have my first loyalty and always will.

I'm very lucky to have a strong support system with my friends and my family. They have kept me grounded.

Ultimately, for our family, the opportunity to spend increased time together, balanced with a return to academia, was one we could not pass up.

It is every parent's nightmare when a child is in trouble with the law. As a parent, you can do your best to guide young people, but as adults, they make their own choices and live with the consequences of those decisions.