My uncle George was probably the most selfish, self-centered person I have ever met. I call him George because that was his real name, and I prefer to run his real name through the mud rather than a fake name. I'm sometimes accused of being cynical or negative in my thinking. But I want to assure you from the outset that this story has a happy ending. George dies.

For me, the program ended up being pretty much a one-step program: Letting go. The shoulder being torn from the socket, lots of blood, lots of pain, nothing I ever want to go through again. But I needed it, and it worked. There are a lot of sayings in program, but the one that worked best for me was : "Take what you want and leave the rest." Listening to so many different people telling so many different stories at so many different meetings, I took what worked for me and

When my father was in his late 80s, he tried to commit suicide. My mother, who had been away for the day, found him and called me, and I called an ambulance, and he was “saved.” When he woke up in the hospital after having his stomach pumped, he was quite angry about being “saved.” Talk about no one listening to what he wanted.

My medical education has followed almost exactly the same path. I keep learning about what can go wrong when it does go wrong, one damn thing after another. I keep earning credits towards a wholly unasked-for medical degree. I have learned about so many things that can screw up, so many procedures and treatments, so many pills and injections. I accept my destiny as a human pincushion for shots, blood draws, and anything else they come up with. I am not an eager student, and t

It is argued that neither we – nor in reality even the creator – can truly “know” the intentions behind the text. Yet it is surely no more futile to cast for intention than to fish for meaning in a random sea of unsignifying signifiers.

Our hotel had bullet holes everywhere, even in the round brass railings on the stairways in the lobby. When I got to my room, I put down my suitcase and went to lock the door and set the chain. Not much point. The door had obviously been kicked open at some point and the chain was gone. The lock still worked, sort of. The American journalist from our group told us how he would go up to his room, pull down the blinds, and place the mattress away from any snipersight l,in es.

Perhaps the most famous single line from Holocaust literature is Anne Frank's conclusion: “In my heart, I believe that people are good.” Do you feel that Kosinski would agree? Write out an imaginary discussion between Kosinski and Frank on the issue of the fundamental nature of man.

“If it can be done, it will be done. Ethics are no more than a fart in a windstorm.” ("Prolegomenon to our cryogenic future")

Cultural trends and corporate greed will doubtless continue to do battle over our nether regions until global warming and societal collapse render the question moot.