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" If you can't empathize with other people, then you will never really be able to write well about them. "

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" Obama-as-dad is my favorite Obama. Obama-as-executive, with his stubborn faith in reasonableness in times absent of reason, presided over the country during its descent into madness. I find it a comfort that Obama-as-dad presided over a family that leaves the White House healthy and happy. "

" I reject the notion that one should feel guilty about what you don't know. "

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" When you are what we call a 'minority writer,' a writer of color, a writer of any kind of difference, there is some kind of presumption of autobiography in everything you produce. And I find that really maddening, and I resist that. "

" Truly smart people and truly smart dressers share one thing in common: They make it look easy. "

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