The Evolution of the Flightless Bird "How blessed were we, the Village of Stonington and all of us, to have been able to know and love James Ingram Merrill. To have the icon of American literature living here, acting just like one of us, an ordinary citizen, for forty-plus years, while touch...

A Japanese proverb says, "The nail that sticks out will be hammered down." (5) Society tries to place many rules and restrictions on us as individuals, as to what is acceptable and what is not. I believe that conformity encourages mediocrity and we must decide for ourselves whether to ...