"On a day of despair, I made a mistake and I regret it so much," he said.
During the 1930s, Odets (1906-1963) was viewed by many as less a playwright than a prophet, giving voice to the frustrations, rage and hopelessness felt by ordinary Americans in the dark days of economic despair.
Ryan Gattis' new novel, "All Involved" (Ecco: 384 pp., $27.95), inspired by the riots, starts with one murder in South Los Angeles, then kaleidoscopes through multiple viewpoints — gang members, firefighters, nurses and graffiti kids — during the days of lawlessness, despair and fury.
And it's about seeing beyond dark times -- when the 1981 capsule was being buried, remember, Ronald Reagan had just been shot and the American hostages in Iran had only recently been released after 444 days of anger and despair for the United States.
Anyone who has been following the sports news in recent days might despair of the ethics, or lack of them, espoused by a certain cyclist from Texas.
When we returned the next day, that crushing sense of despair was still there, saturating every aspect of life.
The books are "Mets Fan" (2007) and "Last Days of Shea: Delight and Despair in the Life of a Mets Fan" (2009).
But I think that in these days of division, derision and despair, people are looking for better ways and better possibilities.
Thorpe adds that his mother, who died in 2003, "was relentlessly cheerful every day and never showed any hint of despair or self-pity or anything like that to her children".
An occupation determines so much about us: how we pass our days; our enemies and allies; our levels of despair or confidence.
