Okay. So I’m not as organized as I pretend I am. So I don’t keep track of my non-fiction. That particular fact has never bitten me in the butt before now. I think of nonfiction as something I toss off, worth only what I get in the moment. So while I know this essay first appeared in 1994, I’m not quite sure where. Judging from its tone, it probably appeared in the Report, a writer’s magazine my husband and I (later J. Stephen and Christina F. York) used to edit. But I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that despite the subheading of this part of my site—Dated Essay of the Month—this one ain’t so dated. The … Read entire article »