I celebrate everyone's religious holidays. if it's good enough for the righteous, it's good enough for the self-righteous, I always say.

One of my first role models was Eugene Lang, a wealthy businessman who went back to his elementary school in East Harlem and addressed the sixth-grade class. He looked out at that sea of faces and said, "If any of you wants to go to college, I will pay for it." When I read that, I burst into tears. It was so generous and so basic. Not fluffy. I can't understand why we scrimp on education and shortchange our kids. Why would the citizenry do that to the people who are going to inherit its republic?

I always try to balance the light with the heavy - a few tears of human spirit in with the sequins and the fringes.

If only I'd known my differentness would be an asset, then my earlier life would have been much easier.

That's why I'm concerned about education, because it helps our children see other worlds. Education is my next big thing. When music and art were taken out of the schools, I went berserk!

It's the one who won't be taken that cannot seem to give, and the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live.

I read neither good nor bad about me. I let it not even in my life, so it has no effect on me. I am very sensitive.