Richard Rodriguez tells Paula Gordon and Bill Russell why the metaphor of "brown" is so powerful. Mr. Rodriguez describes the jagged line he's recording in his essays. He relates art's cubism to the way it feels to be alive today.

The present day is both hard and thrilling, Mr. Rodriguez says, giving examples. He wonders if we yet know the meaning of Columbus' arrival in the Western Hemisphere. He suggests his own childhood erotic secret helped him understand the unspoken energy of sex in the American culture. He elaborates, with examples of how eroticism is always retranslating the known world. Mr. Rodriguez explains why he believes religion is going to be the great energy of the 21st century and speaks of the three desert religions of the West, which he believes may be starting to enter a feminine phase.

Reminding us that he was created in the 16th century when Conquistadors and Indians met, Mr. Rodriguez explains the advantage of Latin America's acknowledgement of brownness. He sees a dialectic opening up as America becomes part of El Norte, finding itself between one culture that champions the intellectual construct of multi-culturalism and one that understands people fall in love. He describes why English is not America's language. Brown, he says, results when cultures and religions combine, coming together within a single child. He offers examples. He reminds us of the conflict between America's three communal desert religions and the individualism embodied in America's Hellenistic culture.

There's a cruelty toward youth in America, Mr. Rodriguez believes, confident we stamp it out early. He believes the source is parents' unwillingness to relinquish their own childish ways, then offers an alternative view, the positive side of this childishness in the culture. He explains his personal ambiguity about this cultural tension. Americans are not a tragic people, he says, America announces its identity through the newcomer. In contrast, Mr. Rodriguez tells his own story, contrasting his experience to that of his Mexican father. Latin America's sense of the tragic is explored. Mr. Rodriguez describes the opposing pulls of America's Puritanism.

Mr. Rodriguez explains how his hostility to America's political conversation energizes him as a writer. The "chattering classes" are considered. We don't allow ourselves any of the fluidity of our lives, Mr. Rodriguez observes, refusing to be categorized himself, objecting when political talk shows narrow life to labels and frozen agendas. America is dulled by a false conversation, he insists, distressed that we rely on politicians and political categories instead of having conversations with each other. He calls people, instead, to the unwritten histories told in grandmothers' kitchens, not what's grabbed by the loudest voices. He assures us social class is among America's most silent topics, and expands.

Valuing oneself within the context of where we come from is vital, says Mr. Rodriguez, convinced that success is never an individual accomplishment. He describes how his homosexuality has empowered him to re-describe America as a place where people fall in love in unsanctioned ways. He points out that love crimes are more dangerous than hate crimes in America and offers positive alternative scenarios.