a passage from the DeLint short story "The Conjure Man"

"Because it's just like he told you," Jilly said.

"People are losing touch with themselves and with each other. They need stories because they really are the only thing that brings us all together. Gossip, anecdotes,jokes, stories- these are the things that we used to exchange with each other. It kept the lines of communication open, let us touch each other on a regular basis.

"That's what art's all about too. My paintings and your poems, the books Christy writes, the music Geordie plays- they're all lines of communication. But they're harder to keep open now because it's so much easier for most people to relate to a TV set than it is to another person. They get all this data fed into them, but they don't know what to do with it anymore. When they talk to other people, it's all surface. How ya doing, what about the weather. The only opinions they have are those that they've gotten from people on the TV. They think that they're informed, but all they're doing is repeating the views of talk show hosts and news commentators.

"They don't know how to listen to real people anymore."