post-election

Are you a hack?  Does this question haunt you?  Does it make you silent for a year? If so, do you also find yourself wondering if, really, there is anything inherently bad about hacks?  Aren’t some of them kind and funny and sometimes smell good?  Aren't some of them not exactly a blossom, but a little pink glove?  And who's to say which one is better?  What if all those folks who claim to know who exactly the hacks are not, are hacks themselves?  

I heard George Saunders read last night.  My takeaway:  whether or not you're a hack doesn't really matter.  Just know that the only path to originality is the one that cuts straight through your own heart.  If it's not painful, you're probably taking a short cut through somebody else's heart.