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Once she was on the freeway and
had maneuvered her way to a fast
lane she turned on the radio at high
volume and she drove. She drove
the San Diego to the Harbor, the
Harbor up to the Hollywood, the
Hollywood to the Golden State, the
Santa Monica, the Santa Ana, the
Pasedena, the Ventura. She drove
it as a riverman runs a river, every
day more attuned to its currents,
its deceptions...Again and again
she returned to an intricate stretch
just south of the interchange where
successful passage from the Holly-
wood onto the Harbor required a
diagonal move across four lanes of
traffic. On the afternoon she finally
did it without once braking or once
losing the beat on the radio she
was exhilarated and that night slept
dreamlessly....

-Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays

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