I can’t imagine a quiet subway ride. In Kyoto there was just one line and it went from way south to way north of town. I looked up one time and was standing next to a giant Sumo wrestler. In Shanghai I always looked out the window to see my exit station. Tokyo at 5: o’clock traffic time was weird. Crazy crowded, but everyone was willing to help me get somewhere. In Tokyo I was told to get on here and get off 5 stops later. So I sat there, unable to read the signs and counted on my fingers; that’s one, that’s two… etc. Friends thought I was very brave to go all the way across town by myself. Even if I was lost, the people around me knew where they were!

Frank, when was the last time you spent any amount of time with the Chinese people? China has changed immensely since Tianamen Square. Their aims are about 90 degrees from Mao. He was the one who slowed the country down to a halt in the wrong direction. The results of the Mao years are still being overcome on a very basic level. The Communist leadership still has an ideological hold on the people, but the notion of social change and free trade has taken hold too. Sure, they have problems and pollution. So do we. Have you taken a dip in the Hudson river lately? Patrice Baldwin

Now that my two kids are out and on their way, so to speak, and I’m single again too, I work at home also, but nobody sees me, so I sleep nude most of the year. In southeast Arizona there’s nothing else to do.