It's hard to talk to people about beauty and building. Some years ago, while I was building my house, a friend of a friend came by to see. He looked appreciatively at our modest but well-built structure — which I was ornamenting with curved rafter tails and brackets — and said, "why are you spending all this time cutting fancy shapes when you have a house to build?" Before I could reply, he said, almost to himself, "Oh, you're an artist," as if that explained otherwise aberrant behavior, like a diagnosis of disease. For years I have taken offense at what felt to me like slights and . . .