Steinbeck

I'm re-reading Grapes of Wrath, inspired by my friend Ricky Ian Gordon's opera, which had its premiere at Carnegie Hall right before I left for Senegal. I think I'm re-reading it. Wasn't it required reading in high school or college literature? It's like a fresh read for me...as was Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies and Brave New World.

This quote in Robert Demott’s introduction invited me pause: …Steinbeck discovered…the most heroic action was to learn to be present in the here and now, and to inhabit the “wherever” as fully and at once as possible.

Here and now...as fully as possible.