Time & Perspective Quote by Armistead Maupin

Celebrity, in Maupin's telling, isn't a coronation; it's a civic interaction he can still navigate without bodyguards or self-mythology. "Manageable" is the tell: a word from the realm of schedules and housekeeping, not glamour. It quietly demotes fame from destiny to logistics. That framing fits a novelist whose public identity has always been braided with community - the kind built through stories passed hand to hand, not through omnipresent branding.

The intent here is both grateful and defensive. Maupin acknowledges the ego-kibble of recognition ("appreciative things") while drawing a boundary around it: this is fame that arrives "from time to time", not an atmosphere that consumes him. He signals that his relationship to visibility remains voluntary, intermittent, and, crucially, humane. There's a moral preference embedded in the contrast between being known and being swarmed.

The subtext also nods to the particular arc of Maupin's career. As the author of Tales of the City, he became a touchstone for readers - especially LGBTQ readers - who often treat his work less like entertainment and more like reassurance. Appreciation, in that light, isn't just praise; it's testimony. The pleasure he takes isn't only personal validation but a sense of having landed somewhere useful in other people's lives.

Context matters: Maupin came up in an era when queer storytelling could cost you mainstream access, then lived long enough to see it canonized and commodified. "Manageable celebrity" is a small, wry victory: recognition without erasure, warmth without captivity.