text:  playing in the background as there is, you know, the TV on and the radio and the news and the events large and small that are taking place in our country while we're, you know, living out our lives in kitchens and living rooms and bedrooms. I am sometimes criticized. I just read a review of a woman had posted on Amazon saying, I always love Joyce Maynard's books, but why does she have to put politics in her books? And