There's nothing to be gained from passive observance, the simple documenting of conditions, because, at its core, it sets a bad example. Every time something is observed and not fixed, or when one has a chance to give in some way and does not, there is a lie being told, the same lie we all know by heart but which needn't be reiterated.

I see colors like you hear jet planes.

The idea of 'Voice of Witness' is to let survivors and witnesses of human-rights abuses tell their story at length. It started with a course that I co-taught at U.C. Berkeley journalism school back in 2003.

I always like the idea of doing interviews with somebody but completely seriously not ever mentioning what that person is generally known for.

When we pass by another person without telling them we love them it’s cruel and wrong and we all know this.

Tim O'Brien's book about Vietnam, The Things They Carried, has won every award, is studied in college and is considered to be definitive. But it's fiction.

Better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb than in the middle of some ladder you don’t, right?