Word: minds
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There are many parallels between your last book, a graphic novel called The Three Incestuous Sisters, and Her Fearful Symmetry. Is there something in the way that sisters interact, in your mind, that makes those relationships fertile ground for stories to grow out of? Yes, though I should hasten to add that my relationship with my own sisters is idyllic and lovely. However, there's so much potential for rivalry and competition. But then there are all the upsides of companionship and that "Who knows you better than your sister?" feeling...
Were there certain pairs of pop-culture twins that came to mind when you were writing this book? Someone in some review somewhere mentioned Diane Arbus' photo of those young twins, and that's an iconic image for me. I'm a huge admirer of Diane Arbus. And even though my twins don't look like that and they're older, there's something in the way those two girls look at the camera. With her work, there's always this quality of looking at people maybe you feel you shouldn't be looking...
...Retirement savings, it turns out, are exactly the type of asset we need insurance for. We need insurance to protect against risks we can't predict (when the market collapses) and can't afford to recover from on our own. "People tend to meld savings and insurance in their mind, but they are not substitutes," says Nancy Altman, a former Harvard professor and the author of The Battle for Social Security. "It's fine to have a savings plan as a supplement but not as the main retirement protection for everyone." She says the best way to guarantee a replacement...
...contest to keep the kids motivated, with the winning team choosing the club’s opening number. Finn’s overextended, though, and Quinn’s low on energy what with being preggers and all. Luckily, though, Sue plants marital suspicions in Terri’s mind and convinces her to become the school nurse to spy on Will and Emma, so now the kids have an unlicensed practitioner to help out. It’s okay, though – “it’s a public school.” Her solution...
...want our national leaders to be personally humble, just as we would like them to be kind and generous and to take out the cat litter each night. (Funnily enough, of the hundreds of politicians I've met over the years, humble is a description that comes to mind for very few. Now that I think about it: none.) But we do not really want them to be politically humble. Passivity and resignation in the face of challenge may, in some religious-belief systems, represent an admirable surrender to the will of the Almighty. But we do not elect leaders...