Gospel 900 AM, Online Gospel 900 AM Radio internet, Gospel 900 AM USA Radio in residing with others of the same faith, you were assigned Jewish roommates. I didn't write anything under religious preference, sir. I can see that. I'm wondering why that is. It's because I have none. I don't prefer to practice one religion over another. What then provides you with spiritual sustenance? To whom do you pray when you need solace? I don't need solace, sir. I don't believe in God and I don't believe in prayer. I am sustained by what is real. Praying, to me, is preposterous. Is it now? And yet so many millions do it. Millions once thought the earth was flat, sir. Yes, that's true. But may I ask you, Marcus, merely out of curiosity, how do you get by in life-- filled as life is inevitably with trials and tribulations lacking spiritual guidance? I get straight A's, sir. I didn't ask about your grades. I know your grades. You have every right to be proud of them, as I've already told you. Well, then you know the answer to your question of how I get by just fine. Well, if I may say so, it doesn't look to me like you get along just fine. It seems to me as soon as there's a difference of opinion, you pick up and leave. Is there a problem with finding a solution in quietly leaving? But look where you've wound up - in the least desirable room on the entire campus. Frankly, I don't like the idea of you up there alone. But I did not end up there because of lack of religious beliefs, sir, if that is what you are suggesting in a roundabout way. Why is it, then? As I explained to you before, the living arrangements I was given were intolerable. Tolerance appears to be something of a problem for you, young man. I've never heard that said about me before, sir. There appear to be several things you've never heard about yourself before. But before, you were living at home, in the bosom of your childhood family. Now you are living at Winesburg as an adult, and aside from mastering your studies your task is to learn how to get along with people and to extend tolerance to those who may not be carbon copies of yourself. Tolerance? How about extending some tolerance to me, sir? I don't mean to be brash or insolent but what exactly is the crime I have committed? Here? Today? So I've switched rooms. Is that considered a crime here at Winesburg? Has anyone said it is a crime? You display a fondness for dramatic exaggeration. It doesn't serve you well. It is a characteristic you might want to reflect upon. Now tell me, how do you get along with your family? I see from the form here, you also have no siblings, so it's just you and your parents at home, if I'm to take what you've written here to be accurate. Why wouldn't it be accurate? I was accurate when I wrote down my father is a butcher. He is a butcher. It isn't I alone who would describe him as a butcher. He would describe himself as a butcher. You described him as a kosher butcher. Which is fine. But that's not grounds for intimating that I've been in any way inaccurate in filling out-- If I may interrupt, Marcus. How do you three get along, from your perspective? That's the question I asked. You, your mother, and your father: how do you get along? A straight answer, please. My mother and I get along perfectly well. We always have. So have my father and I for most of my life. inhales clears throat From my last year at grade school until I moved to Winesburg I worked part time for him at the shop. We were as close as father and son could be. Of late there's been some strain between us. Strain over what, may I ask? He's been unnecessarily worried about my independence. I think it has to do with many of my cousins having died in the last war. You say unnecessarily worried about you because he has no reason to be? None at all. Is he worried, for instance, about your inability to adjust to your roommates here at Winesburg? I have not told him about my roommates. I did not think it was important. Nor is 'inability to adjust' a proper way to describe the difficulty, sir. I do not want to be distracted from my studies by superfluous problems. I wouldn't consider your having to move out