Part of the reason for my good mood is the wine in the Italian restaurant where we have come for a late supper after the play, and the other part has to do with the fact that I was recognized in the theater lobby by a crowd of people who pointed at me and whispered among themselves to identify me as the publisher of The Spread. My face is becoming increasingly well-known, not only because honesty compels me to publish it in the newspaper weekly over the masthead as an attestation of conviction, but because I have appeared at a number of lectures, seminars, panels, radio shows and so on around town although not yet on television. The recognition in the lobby was utterly without laughter; there was a time when strangers who knew my face from the newspaper would giggle but now, more and more, they are becoming respectful I am a figure of some solidity and weight; the test in America is to be substantial, the origin of your substantiality hardly mattering anymore. Also, my wife was not in the least embarrassed by my identification; she did not turn away but, instead, took my hand with a thin edge of defiance and returned their glances levelly.
