Great, great piece. I didn’t quit drinking so much as agnosticism when I entered the Catholic Church a few months before 9/11 (following that earlier Oxford Movement leader John Henry Newman). But it was also sobriety, a new intellectual clarity, looking around and suddenly seeing the haze of thoughtless groupthink that dominates the west side of L.A..

I left L.A. last year so my mother could die at home instead of a nursing home. Thanks for bringing it back to me so vividly. You make me pine for my somewhat delusional friends, but more so for the small circle who refuse to back down. Can’t wait to return to the fight.