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I grew up in the Midwest, so I have sort of an honorable moral code. But I moved to a city and joined a sort of fast crowd. A lot of people who grew up in the city sort of aren't aware of manners and other ways of life and 'common decency.'

I have lived most of my life in small towns, and I'm in the habit of knowing and talking to everyone.

I begin to grow heartily tired of the etiquette and nonsense so fashionable in this city.

Manners is the key thing. Say, for instance, when you're growing up, you're walking down the street, you've got to tell everybody good morning. Everybody. You can't pass one person.

Manners make the world work. They're not only based on kindness but also efficiency. When people know what to do, the world is smoother. When no one knows what to do, it's chaos.

Social interactions have always been a bit of a difficult thing for me. I think I have a natural tendency to make people not 100 percent super comfortable.

I grew up in a small town that was absolutely a perfect embodiment of new urbanism.

I'm greedy about cities - I like to form my impressions of them on my own, and on foot as far as possible, looking and listening, having conversations with bridges and streets and riverbanks, conversations I tend not to be aware of until a little later, when I find myself returning to those places to say hello again, even if only in memory.

Nowadays, manners are easy and life is hard.