David Marchese

That's exactly right.

An artisanal, yeah.

If that...

that change or that decline is something that you've noticed in terms of the kinds of work that your students want to do or what they see as the function or utility or purpose of their work?

And your students, you think, feel similarly.

You know, I realized that just underneath a lot of what we've talked about and also your new book in a way is the idea of karma.

I just want to know, do you believe in karma?

And then- Does it operate on an individual level?

I don't think there is any karma on an individual level.

I don't know that...

I'm skeptical that people who have done evil in the world are necessarily reaping what they're sowing or aware of the ways in which they might be reaping what they're sowing.

Yes, yeah.

And so the last thing I want to ask you is I reread Civil War Land and Bad Decline.

And in the newer, some newer edition of it, there's an author's note where you write about where you were at in your life.

That's your first published collection, where you were at in your life when you were working on those stories.

And very beautifully, you talk about...

Even though you were, you know, in your 30s kind of struggling a little economically, having to ride your bike to work in Rochester in the winter, you know, just not easy.

You were aware at the time that it was kind of a magical moment in your life.

You had a young family.

You were, you know, sort of trying to make your way.