maggie nelson. she's in there, right? i thought i saw -- okay. >> yeah. [laughter] >> it's like -- but i think it was just at first -- and, again, to sort of use a humor analogy i remember when i first took a gander at the table of contents, a duck walked into a bar, what do these things have in common? that's the beauty of it. i know you weren't going for theme in that way. but there was something, it did feel like this, like are, lovely, unified voice, and i was just very surprised by that. >> you know, as part of that unified quality may be my own limitation which is that i veer towards humor and irony. anything too solemn kind of turns me off, you know? and i noticed way all three of you work with humor, you know? so it just seems like one of the specialties of -- potentialitis. >> oh, yeah, the self-depracation, i think, has become biggest tool in the toolbox. >> [inaudible] >> everything i'm saying, but it's basically become so extreme that i think what's great about the essays in this book are just successful contemporary essays in general, balance