When we put our trust in diplomacy, it is not because it is an inspiring or uplifting discourse or because it helps us see the common humanity in others. The stylized circumlocutions of diplomats can make them seem ridiculous or irrelevant: they never seem to be talking about what is really going on.

In an ideological age, diplomacy may seem weak and prosaic. But sometimes it is all we have.

What is driving the tendency to discount Joseph Smith's revelations is not that they seem less reasonable than those of Moses; it is that the book containing them is so new. When it comes to prophecy, antiquity breeds authenticity. Events in the distant past, we tend to think, occurred in sacred, mythic time.

The administration of George W. Bush, emboldened by the Sept. 11 attacks and the backing of a Republican Congress, has sought to further extend presidential power over national security. Most of the expansion has taken place in secret, making Congressional or judicial supervision particularly difficult.

I spent a lot of time in churches. If you go to a synagogue, someone is always asking if you're alone, if you're married. In a church, in a hundred years no one would ask.

It's hard to be married to me, and it was a lot harder when I was younger!

The heart jungle drum beat finds its voice in love and matchsticks.

I love being onstage. I love the relationship with the audience. I love the letting go, the sense of discovery, the improvising.