I was in Pittsburgh for a few days last week, the city that I first came to in this country (as a grad student at Carnegie-Mellon University). Oakland, whose streets I first walked almost thirty years ago, still had that same university hangout feel - the Oakland Original restaurant was still there, though the King's Court theater has been long gone. It was all very nostalgic, but also strangely melancholic. I suppose the melancholy came from memories of being 20, of trying to figure out my place in the world and my best strategies for happiness. It was tremendously exciting to be in this new American culture, but also tremendously stressful - plus, there was a long road of self-discovery that lay ahead. I realized last week how relieved I was to have survived all that excitement, all that stress, all that self-discovery, how lucky I felt to have made the journey to my present juncture in life.

Here's a link to Victoria Lautman's website, on which she has available interviews with several dozen authors (all conducted at the Chicago Public Library's beautiful Harold Washington Center). Victoria interviewed me earlier this year, and it was a highlight of the paperback tour - hear it on the link above.