Walking up to me was a Network School newcomer with food on his paper plate: "What kind of folks live around here?" "Well, stranger, what kind of folks was there in the country you come from?" "Well, they was mostly a lowdown, lying, gossiping, backbiting lot of people...

My purpose in going to Forest City is not to live cheaply, but to transact some private business with the fewest obstacles. I also want to be in solitude so that I can write. Thoreau had Walden, Didion had California, Baldwin had Saint-Paul de Vence, and I have Forest City...

As I write these words, sitting across from me is a man worth billions. He’s in a plain white t-shirt, black shorts, and sandals, sipping a three-dollar coffee, no different from mine....