How am I placing myself in the world of other people around me? For me, I feel that I am not really alone, that others can feel it too. I see art in this way.

Everything around you can use. It's like your tools and your material. Whether it's in performing arts like dance, or visual arts, or poetry, a lot of those elements can come and help you, can trigger your creativity. But you have to be open, be aware, and you have to be ready to look.

I write and I write and a lot of times I go back to the American lens, though sometimes it's a struggle to come from that perspective.

Even if you look in the dictionary you know the meaning of the word or phrase, but there's still the feeling of it.

Art is really about how you capture different things you see around you and bring them into forms and words and shapes and meaning.

Whether I affect one person or an entire family, or even a group of people, I feel like I have resources and education and ability and skills that some people may not be fortunate enough to acquire. But by sharing and inquiring, being a listener, and being interested in the stories of other people and their lives, I can also pull things out and say "What can I do for them? What can I share with them that may alleviate some of their suffering?"

I've been coming to Cambodia off and on, six months of the year usually.