As I spoke too loudly during the solemn church service, my husband shot me a glance that emotionally tasered me to the point of silence until we returned home 2 hours later.

Throughout my first year at the Bolshoi, I felt the pressure to be at the absolute top of my game. I had relearned and been recoached in the classical ballets. This intense work was invariably draining; the Bolshoi style pushed me beyond anything I'd attained before.

Brodsky's recent pumpkinification as America's laureate might be considered as a typical example of officialdom's laureate criteria.

Wooden planks of the old bridge's floor were nearly rotten.