It was just an idea I had, that it could be cool to have a book covered in fake fur.

It's so easy to print in the Midwest. You're saving months in shipping and customs, so we have started printing a number of books there.

Paper is a uniquely beautiful format, more so than the web, I think: you need to invest in the aesthetics.

Status in itself is criminal for those with the means to move, and the means to weave communion between people.

The house is a factory.

The only thing that everyone needs to look out for is keeping the students reading through high school and thereafter.

They took my mother's stomach out six months ago.

Through the small tall bathroom window the December yard is gray and scratchy, the tree calligraphic.

To me, the print business model is so simple, where readers pay a dollar for all the content within, and that supports the enterprise.

Well, my background is journalism. I don't have any creative-writing experience except for one class I took as a sophomore in college.

When I'm doing work online or on the computer, it's one thing. When I want to read, I want to go elsewhere, and I want to be away from the screen.

You know, it's been proven that 35 to 40 hours a year with one-on-one attention, a student can get one grade level higher.

Also, I need deadlines, just like everybody else, especially coming from magazines, newspapers, and stuff like that. I need daily or weekly deadlines to get stuff done, or I continue to do things and not go off on a year of unproductivity.

But there was something psychological happening there that was just a little bit different. And the other thing was, there was no stigma. Kids weren't going into the 'Center-for-Kids-That-Need-More-Help' or something like that. It was 826 Valencia.

But while mum and dad were incredibly caring, it was also a very chaotic household where everyone fought about everything. So I know what it's like to internalize all that chaos.

But you know, there's something about the kids finishing their homework in a given day, working one-on-one, getting all this attention - they go home, they're finished. They don't stall, they don't do their homework in front of the TV.

High school teachers who want to get reluctant readers turned around need to give the students some say in the reading list. Make it collaborative: The students will feel ownership, and everyone will dig in.

I grew up north of Chicago, not far from where the Schwinn bicycle plant used to be, and was conscious of the fact that these beautiful, everlasting bikes were made just down the road.

I met a lot of great people in Saudi Arabia and I'd like to see them again. And I'd love to spend more time in the desert and in the mountains. I felt really at home there.

I think newspapers shouldn't try to compete directly with the Web, and should do what they can do better, which may be long-form journalism and using photos and art, and making connections with large-form graphics and really enhancing the tactile experience of paper.