In retrospect, I was a sad little boy and a standard-issue, shiftless, egotistical, dejected teen-ager.

NEWYORKER: Where I Learned To Read

He perfected the art of buttboarding sitting on his skateboard and careering down hills with no helmet and no brakes and staged rock-throwing wars with other shiftless kids in empty lots.

NEWYORKER: The Martian Chroniclers