My father would often work all night and sleep during the day, so for us, dinner might be pancakes, and breakfast might be beef stroganoff.

My parents told us how they felt but never imposed their beliefs on us, although I appreciate I got a healthy sense of democracy from them.

At 12 I dropped out of school but I had lost interest in it at a much earlier age. For me, school was very very stressful.

I miss my Dad. My Dad loved cheesy monster movies, so we'd have Godzilla movie marathons. Those are some of my favorite memories, laughing at how the monster outfits were so bad, like black garbage bags for heads.

I had this whole ritual with my mother making the bed with me inside it so I would be invisible.

I would ask my parents something, but then go to my siblings. We were encouraged to bounce ideas off everyone.

When we had to do book reports, I would pick a book that no one read and just make it up and turn that in. I got praised for my imagination.