“I first read 'The Scarlet Letter' when I was fifteen. In it, I found a...” — David Ebershoff Quote

I first read 'The Scarlet Letter' when I was fifteen. In it, I found a familiar vision of religious intolerance to the one around me. I grew up in the 1980s, when televangelists, with their fluffed up hair and their tears, self-righteously denounced all kinds of sinners, reserving a special, full-throated enthusiasm for gay people.

When I see someone interesting on the subway - the lady with her new Bible or the delivery guy holding down a dozen Mylar balloons - my mind goes in two different directions. Where are they coming from? And where are they going?

We struggle throughout our lives to learn to accept the shell that transports us through this world, and many of us take great effort to change it. I believe everyone has at least once looked in the mirror and thought, 'That is not me. I am someone else. The world cannot see me as I really am.'

Since I was a kid, I feel most confident when I'm reading.

The thing that I really look for in people is enthusiasm and excitement and, not to sound really sappy, that fire in their eyes.

Once upon a time I owned a football club. It was one I grew up supporting, one my father had played for and one, as its owner, I had huge enthusiasm and great ambitions for.

I didn't only have a perceptual problem, I was also so nervous and so upset. The process just didn't work. I lost enthusiasm for school and I flunked second grade. The teachers said I was lazy.

For Obama, there was just a lot of enthusiasm in the minority communities to get out and vote. Everybody felt like their vote mattered.