Fidel Castro takes up so much space in the Cuban mind. It's hard for us to imagine as Americans - isn't it? - how much of everyday conversation he's dominated for 50 years. Scott Simon More Quotes by Scott Simon More Quotes From Scott Simon Despite the reams of paperwork, obstacles worthy of a horse show, and a wait that can rival an elephant's gestation, adoption feels no different on the inside. Scott Simon horse elephants waiting Race, blood, lineage, and nationality don't matter; they're just the way that small minds keep score. All that matters about blood is that it's warm and that it beats through a loving heart. Scott Simon race heart blood So: this is where we are going to become parents. You walk into the building as a couple, and leave a few minutes later as a family. You walk in recollecting long romantic dinners, nights at the theater, and care-free vacations. You leave worrying about where to get diapers, milk, and Cheerios. Scott Simon vacation couple night I take Charb's point, but at some point has Charlie Hebdo been trying to have it both ways because some of what they do is not funny. Scott Simon charlie-hebdo trying way There are times when the adoption process is exhausting and painful and makes you want to scream. But, I am told, so does childbirth. Scott Simon adoption doe want Almost every continent in the world, including our own, has refugees. But how often when we hear the word do we pause to remind ourselves what being a refugee means? Scott Simon refugee mean world Reading will put you into the minds and hearts of others. It might help you understand why other people do what they do sometimes. Scott Simon reading heart people I was a kid and it was kind of scabrous, and it wasn't the sacrilege that bothered me so much as the obscenity that challenged a 14-year-old American. But over the years, I came to have a keen appreciation of Charlie Hebdo and what it did. Scott Simon charlie-hebdo appreciation kids In journalism, when we want to get a story over the jumps, we refer to it as a universal experience, but it almost never is. There is one universal experience, that's death. That is something we are all going to experience at some distance in the lives of loved ones, strangers and friends, people around us and certainly our own. Scott Simon strangers-and-friends distance people One of the reasons we think this market will start to run out of gas at some point is that you've essentially created as much gold from straw as you can from this financial alchemy Scott Simon gold running thinking When they mention great little things in life, they usually forget flossing. Scott Simon little-things things-in-life littles I became a pedant of the form. I did my graduate work in art history and particularly in the history of French satirical cartooning. And that made me aware of what a rich and resilient tradition this seemingly scabrous sacrilegious magazine still represented in French life. Scott Simon pedants magazines art Srebrenica's not simply another reminder of man's inhumanity to man, but how intelligent people can always come up with intelligent reasons to do nothing. Scott Simon inhumanity-to-man intelligent men It's not the cost (although that pinches), or the time (though that grinds). After a while, it's the sheer galling indignity of being asked to prove, pay, and prove all over again that you're a worthy parent. Any true parent will tell you that that is impossible to prove in advance. Scott Simon cost parent pay Janis Joplin didn't just sing a song, she took it over. She swallowed it whole, then sent it back through her gut and her heart. Scott Simon guts heart song Adoption is rewarding. But the process, as we have already detailed in some particulars, can be expensive, exhausting, and hard to sustain on a dream, much less a whim. Scott Simon adoption process dream Murder is easy. Comedy is hard. Scott Simon murder comedy easy I've always been passionate about what I do and want to do it well, ... My wife says she's a widow to the computer. Scott Simon widows passionate wife Fidel Castro was a charismatic revolutionary and a ruthless leader who allowed no dissent. Scott Simon ruthless revolutionary leader I know end might be near as this is only day of my adulthood I’ve seen my mother and she hasn’t asked, ‘Why that shirt?’ Scott Simon t-shirt mother might
