SOMETHING I WROTE ONCE . . . "The Virtues of Eccentricity" was originally published in 1997 as an Op-Ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Its heroes: Saul Bellow, Kurt Cobain, "subversive" artists. Its villains: the religious right, corporate advertisers, Hollywood movie producers.

The essay's final line: "At a time when there’s too much sameness in our corner of the world, we should encourage our fellow eccentrics and nurture the eccentricities in ourselves."

More of my published writing can be found here.