I Am Unusually Halloween-attentive, Because, As It

Living In A Rural Setting Exposes You To So Many Marvelous Things - The Natural World And The Particular Texture Of Small-town Life, And The Exhilarating Experience Of Open Space.

I Teach A Non-fiction Writing Class At New York University, And One Of My Great Pleasures Is Deciding On The Syllabus.

Election Day Outside Of Big Cities Is Different. For One Thing, There Are So Few People In My Town That Each Individual Vote Really Does Matter, And Several Local Races Have Been Decided By As Many Votes As You Can Count On One Hand.

I've Always Been Afraid Of Video Games - Not Afraid That I Wouldn't Like Them, But That I Would Like Them Too Much, And That After Mere Seconds In Front Of Any Particularly Bright And Absorbing Game, I Would Abandon All Ambition, Turn Into A Mouth-breathing Zombie, And Develop A Wide, Sofa-shaped Rear End.

Now We're E-mailing And Tweeting And Texting So Much, A Phone Call Comes As A Fresh Surprise. I Get Text Messages On My Cell Phone All Day Long, And It Warbles To Alert Me That Someone Has Sent Me A Message On Facebook Or A Reply Or Direct Message On Twitter, But It Rarely Ever Rings.