The childhood move into Harvard's Leverett House: "Feeling a strange, greasy grit on our fingers as we leaned over the terrace wall, one high story above the street, we heard the news that we would not be able to go out of the house unaccompanied by a grownup." Less funny than many of Mary's asides and vignettes, but formative.
   From her "The No-Neighborhood of The Palace"

Mary travelled thousands of miles to volunteer for Vote Smart -- in her late seventies. A stalwart worker for voters' rights.
                               --Co-volunteer