Jane I heard that last week Lily was at a LA City Council meeting to try to stop the new LA Zoo elephant exhibit from being built. Today I heard a council member say that they were going to stop the new elephant exhibit and maybe do something about a habitat. Wondering if that is really true?

I am not much of an avid reader [she reluctantly admits, shamefully] but I have read “The Color Purple” and other various excerpts (my college composition professor was a fan), and can without a doubt agree that I share the love for Ms. Walker! Actually, not long ago as I was channel-surfing during some ungodly hour of the morning, I came across an exclusive interview (CNN - Larry King, I think?) and I found myself absolutely enthralled by her presence. She possesses this superior wisdom that was almost palpable even from within my TV screen. She is the type of woman who, if I see she has something to say, I will immediately silence myself and listen with an open mind. Very advanced…intimidatingly so. The problem I seem to have with authors as accomplished as she, I never quite know where to START. So if you or anyone else here as any recommendations…fire away, please.

When I was a young poet in San Francisco in the 70s, Happy Hyder, who is a long-time friend of Alice, introduced us at a party of the young and arty. She’d just published her first novel, which I was so touched by, and I was too shy to really talk with her. About a year ago, we found ourselves over the fruit at Whole Foods, and I told her I had really kicked myself for decades that I had been so stupid. That I hadn’t reached out to her, then. She looked me straight in the eye and said, “You’re right. It was stupid.” We both laughed that rueful laugh of being in our 60s now instead of in our 20s, made our selections, and moved on.