Now that I'm 50 and respectably settled in New England and markedly happier and more contented than I was in my youth, I modestly hope there's time to realize some of my youthful goals before I croak, but I'll take what I can get.

I grew up in an all-female family - two sisters and a mostly single mother - and we often bonded, in part, by disparaging men and feeling superior to them.

The male muse is an unaccountably rare thing in art. Where does that leave female artists looking for inspiration?

Chan Marshall has one of the most haunting, wrenching voices of any current singer, male or female.

The want of education and moral training is the only real barrier that exists between the different classes of men.

When I dropped out of school at 19 to start my first job in Hollywood, I didn't know anything, and I had no idea where I'd end up. Thankfully, I was attached to some smart and forgiving people who let me learn under them.

Some of the most famous books are the least worth reading. Their fame was due to their having done something that needed to be doing in their day. The work is done and the virtue of the book has expired.

My mom was a history teacher when I was a kid, so I hated history out of rebellion.