Art is not boosterism, it’s not propaganda, and it’s not spin, but that’s not something that art does, and nor has it historically ever done it. 2.12K
I was part of that group of kids growing up in the ’80s under the Reagan regime, what I used to call ‘living in the shadow of Dr. Manhattan,’ where we would have dreams all the time that New York City was being destroyed, and that that wall of light and destruction was rolling out and would just devour our neighborhood. 1.61K
We all dream dreams of unity, of purity; we all dream that there’s an authoritative voice out there that will explain things, including ourselves. 555
I’m still trying to figure out how to write about cancer and my family’s experience with it. If I had been able to write ‘The Pura Principle’ back in those days, I’m positive it would have had no humor in it. Which means the story would have been false. 627
Migration gives a blank cheque to put anything you don’t feel like addressing in the memory hold. No neighbours can go against the monster narrative of your family. 605
I seem to have to make my characters family before I can access their hearts in any way that matters. 2.07K
When I write, what I long for is not more realism or fiction but more courage. That’s what I always find myself short on and what I have to struggle to achieve in order that the work might live. 613
Students teach all sorts of things but most importantly they make explicit the courage that it takes to be a learner, the courage it takes to open yourself to the transformative power of real learning and that courage I am exposed to almost every day at MIT and that I’m deeply grateful for. 1.03K
