Last night, at the last minute, I was able to get a ticket to Toni Morrison’s reading and discussion at the 92nd Street Y, of her new novel, “God Help the Child.” I became a teacher because of Toni Morrison. I wanted to write like her, think like her, live the life of the mind. And, since The Bluest Eye, I’ve waited for every new novel. Some folks follow musicians. I follow Toni Morrison. She was wonderful, as usual, last night. I could listen to her read forever. Professor Morrison talked about “evil,” last night. She is “bored, bored, BORED, of evil.” “Evil takes up space, has to be loud, because it’s nothing.” “The job of evil is to keep us from doing our work.” Professor Morrison also talked about the preternaturally good, the humanity of people and the small profound gestures to be human, under the worst conditions. At the end of the evening, an audience member asked what we could all do in service of our communities and Toni Morrison suggested that we “start small.” That even 1 person can have an impact. It occurred to me that although Toni Morrison’s work is far from “small,” it demonstrates an “unwillingness to dwell on evil.” That through her writings, perhaps Toni Morrison is challenging “evil” and surfacing humanity.