We hear the stories every day now: the father who puts on a suit every morning and leaves the house so his daughter doesn't know he lost his job the recent college grad facing up to the painful reality that the only door that's open to her after four years of study and a pile of debt is her parents'. These are the faces of the Obama economy.
Instead it appears to be a particular mark of beauty that it is considered with tranquil satisfaction that it pleases if we also do not possess it and we are still far removed from demanding to possess it.
The daily act of writing remains as demanding and maddening as it was before and the pleasure you get from writing - rare but profound - remains at the true heart of the enterprise. On their best days writers all over the world are winning Pulitzers all alone in their studios with no one watching.
Look demanding somebody do anything in this day and age is not going to fly.