Academic life, I suppose, is already in a condition of satire, pre-satire, or something. Most people in English departments read Alison Lurie and David Lodge, and they love that kind of academic novel that's done lightly and sharply. And so I haven't been nervous about that until just now. You've made me nervous. There's another issue about writers among any group of people.
People get nervous.
Ooh, there's a writer. It's like having a photographer in the group or something. You just don't know what they're taking in, what's going to happen, how it's going to show up. That group must see you as a spy, too. Someone who was a radical bomber who is suddenly running a campaign, a platform for which includes tort reform.