The thing about Hawaii, at least the part that is geared toward tourists, is that it’s exactly what it promises to be. Step off the plane, and someone places a lei around your neck, as if it were some...
The slumber party took place in what the Methodists called a family room, the Catholics used as an extra bedroom, and the neighborhood's only Jews had turned into a combination darkroom and fallout sh...
The six to eight black men were characterized as personal slaves until the mid-1950s, when the political climate changed and it was decided that instead of being slaves they were just good friends.
The rules were just different back then, especially in regard to corporal punishment. Not only could you hit your own children, but you could also hit other people’s.
The real life of the party is flattened beneath the bed, taping actual sex encounters, not sitting cross-legged on the floor with a guitar, embarrassing himself and others.
The part of my plan that made old people uncomfortable, that exposed them for the bigots they were—and on a Sunday!—still appealed to me.
The hippo did, and I heard what sounded at first like a rabble, many voices talking over one another. Then I realized that they weren’t talking.Let me get this straight, the hippo said when I explaine...
The guilt applies only to those things that are being given away for free.
The fetus was minute - a congregation of loitering cells - and as with anything that informal, there was a good chance that it might disperse.
The fake slap invariably makes contact, adding the elements of shock and betrayal to what had previously been plain old-fashioned fear.
The crummy part of swimming is that while you’re doing it you can’t really see much: the bottom of the pool, certainly, a smudged and fleeting bit of the outside world as you turn your head to breathe...
The approach of Christmas signifies three things: bad movies, unforgivable television, and even worse theater. I’m talking bone-crushing theater, the type our ancient ancestors used to oppress their e...
That’s the problem with wishes, they ensnare you. In fairy tales they’re nothing but trouble, magnifying the greed and vanity of the person for whom they are granted.
That, the chief counselor said, is what happens to people who play around. If this was the punishment for a boy and a girl, I felt certain the penalty for two boys somehow involved barbed wire, a team...
That all is right with the world. Man, oh man, he’ll say in my memory, lifting his glass and taking us all in, isn’t this just fantastic
Strip to your underwear, she told me, and I said, D’accord. As the woman turned to leave, she said something else, and, looking back, I really should have asked her to repeat it, to draw a picture if...
Standing in a two-hour line makes people worry that they're not living in a democratic nation.
Sometimes, when I find it hard to sleep, I’ll think of when we first met, of the newness of each other’s body, and my impatience to know everything about this person. Looking back, I should have taken...
Someone stopped Mitch on the street last night and said, I need another seventy-five cents so I can buy a cheeseburger. How about helping me? Mitch said, Get it without the cheese, and continued walki...
Shit is the tofu of cursing and can be molded to whichever condition the speaker desires.