The painter who feels obligated to depict his subjects as uniformly beautiful or handsome and without flaws will fall short of making art.

There is something about the act of studying an unclothed body, as an artist does, that allows a person to appreciate it as pure form, regardless of the kinds of traits traditionally regarded as imperfections. In a figure drawing class, an obese woman's folds of flesh take on a kind of beauty. You can look at a man's shrunken chest or legs or buttocks with tenderness. Age is not ugly, just poignant.

A person who deserves my loyalty receives it.

Long after Salinger sent me away, I continued to believe his standards and expectations were the best ones.

Not only did I avoid speaking of Salinger; I resisted thinking about him. I did not reread his letters to me. The experience had been too painful.

After we are incorporated, we will be heading up an election of officers. Having a place to display visual art would also be wonderful.