“My body was flooded with an almost archaic exultation. I had just been witness to a small intrusion of The Original Wild. This is a moment for celebration. You hardly ever see this…

“I soaked up like a sponge/my mother’s Thirties ethic: Throw away/nothing! Yet somehow, out of the blue,/here you are, a spendthrift, prodigal, clean/break with your ancestral line, a brush/with risk and danger.”—Maryann Corbett…

“I hasten to declare that I have been married to my present spouse only since 2002, though I knew I loved him the moment I saw him on 3 October 1999 and, in…

“I needed money, a vacation, and a drink, but not in that order. What I had was a low-rent plaster cave on the dodgy end of West 52nd Street, a tired dinner jacket,…

“One day, though, I had an epiphany. I must have been about twelve or 13, and my classmate Doris had asked me over for Sunday lunch. They had no servants and her mother…

“To be honest, the shopkeeper’s story was as interesting to me as his wares. Between jackets, I inquired as to his origins. He was an ethnic Turk from Yugoslavia, most specifically the Kosovo…

“My father learned the art of bridge building at the University of Illinois and then taught the art in the Army Corps of Engineers. But before assisting in building three floating bridges to…

“‘It has to go all the way to the beginning!’ Holding her hand, I asked (carefully, because questions would arouse consternation) if she wanted me to tell her who she is and how…

“I’ll venture to say that the attack on America by its current leaders is breaking open the carefully tended falsehoods which our nation has so fondly nurtured. And while our country has had…

“When we recognize patriarchy and its impacts, where does that leave those of us pursuing authenticity? Indeed, attempting to conduct an authentic life in a culture dominated by patriarchy and engendering destruction is…