An Interlude: Well Written

Garrison Keillor is an American treasure, and this week he waxes eloquent on music, race, America and Barack Obama.

This is what we do in the big city: we look at each other. I take my sandy-haired daughter on the subway down to Houston Street and she sits, holding my hand, gazing into faces and because it is the subway and not the Cold Spring Harbor Sailing Regatta there is an astonishing variety of faces, all shades, all shapes, all hairstyles from punk to post-hair. Back where I come from, we are rather similar — it's like the old joke about the little ant who was confused because all his uncles were ants — but in New York there's plenty to catch your eye. I have to remind her of the five-second rule. You can stare at anybody for five seconds but then you have to look away. Look but don't make a scene. - Garrison Keillor

Go. Read.