How did you approach putting those experiences alongside one another without suggesting that they were identical? Well, I

mean, for one thing, for Pascal, he can't hide who he is, you know.

And so Tom and Amos, to some degree, are able to hide that.

what people hate about them.

They're able to pass as straight men.

Pascal doesn't have that luxury, and that's clear throughout the book.

I grew up very near a sundown town, and so I always wanted to write about that.

What does it mean to be a good person when the society around you has given you a distorted definition of what is good? Yeah,

Of course.

And I'm here today because my mother admired you so much.

Uh, I've canceled everything else for the next two weeks, but I didn't wanna cancel this because I knew she would want me to be here with you.

So tha- thank you for, for being that example for her.

[clapping] And your family history, uh, one thing that I found out in the book, that I learned more about in the book, is that your family history is a testament to the American experiment, um, the way that it has risen up and, and expanded in, in the ways of, uh, of, of pursuing that American dream.

So can you talk about the state of the American dream-

Long answer.

No, it's a good one.