What the shrink said — If I were writing my autobiography (which I’m not), I’d begin with the very first thing I remember: a long dark corridor ending at an open door and a white light that hurt your eyes when you looked at it. It was the corridor outside my bedroom, and the light…

Because believing it makes it real — Billy Strange smiled awkwardly, and his hand shook as he rubbed the back of it against my cheek. …

Taking that last step — This megalopolis of high achievers with a Third World underbelly. This monument to conspicuous consumption, which had taken one of the most beautiful pieces of real estate on the planet and trashed it with slums and freeways and smog. …

Sometimes you just go too far — Men. What can I say? I’d tried many and had even taken a few seriously. I’d even come close to marrying one. I’d known fraudulent love and true love and several of the varieties in between. I’d given myself selflessly and selfishly, but none of those men had ever worked…

Not a different life, but a parallel one — “When I came home from the birthday party, I put my Minnie Mouse balloon in the hall closet, where it shot up to the ceiling. A week later when I came back for it, I found it on the floor, shriveled to a clump of plastic. I burst into tears.”…

We’ve had our eye on you — Out of the blue I got a personal invitation to a Halloween party at the Playboy Mansion. Apparently, I was not only someone known, but someone to know. And why not? My last show had been a hit, and my book of photographs documenting my famous climb of Mt. …

Nothing is always something — I first met Billy Strange when he was ten. Dark hair, brown myopic eyes (he wore horn-rimmed glasses), pale skin, long thin fingers, he was the shy and sensitive type. Exceptionally smart with a keen sense of irony. And for all that, sweet-natured, too. He was my own age but…

Not an end but another beginning — By the time I was thirty, the days of struggling, debt and doubt seemed to be over. I was successful in the work I wanted to do. I was making a name for myself. I was making a pretty decent living. The pictures I had taken and then assembled for…

Dark seas made for love — My father’s advice seemed at first fairly useless. “In situations like this, I find the best thing to do is follow the example of the Trobriand Islanders: carefully make a list of all your options, fold it a couple of times, take it outside, and then set it on fire…