Deb Caletti

'The Nature of Jade' is about a girl who works with the elephants at the zoo near her home, and who, through her involvement with them, becomes involved with a boy and his baby.

It's human nature to want to help and soothe and save with your love, but it's also arrogant.

I long for books; I am utterly greedy about them.

Well, I actually wrote her a letter a couple of days ago congratulating her. The tone I tried to convey in the letter is, look, you are a part of a great American historical process.

I always dreamed of writing in an orchestral context. But when you finish a piece, you want to hear it. So we played everything with Phish.

Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle.