I think what I am is a "convener"; I like to convene people around ideas.

I happen to be a hopeaholic. I tend to look at problems as an opportunity to do some work.

Then everyone leaves, and you are left, each night, to your own devices with a crowd of interesting people - most of whom you don't know - sitting in the dark.

That artists are called to be more responsible and 'true' is a tip of hat to their power.

When I got out of acting school, I was lucky to have gotten any job at all. A lot of people hiring African American actresses - it was right after 'Roots,' and for society, not me, it was great. Nice richly dark-skinned people was the fashion, and I was not.

People in power have to be careful about what comes out of their mouth. They have to find exactly the right word that can't be attacked.

We spend so much time bantering about the words when the real open conversations might very well be our actions. I worry about our rhetoric.