Meghan O'Rourke

'Hamlet' is a play about a man whose grief is deemed unseemly.

But when my mother died, I found that I did not believe that she was gone.

Loss doesn't feel redeemable. But for me one consoling aspect is the recognition that, in this at least, none of us is different from anyone else: We all lose loved ones; we all face our own death.

It's good to like yourself, and that only comes from hard work, from doing. But vanity is dangerous; it can trip you badly.

I would've done anything to work with Satyajit Ray.

Why do we cling to bigotry? Because bigotry, plainly, is convenient. It is a near-effortless way to both elevate one's stature and make a pity grab in this culture of victims that we have become.