Unpopular speech is absolutely vital to the health of our nation.

At this point in my life I'm not bent on proving anything, really.

I'm a New Yorker, you know.

I come from a family of conservation activists, and so I've had a strong connection to nature all my life. My father has been a leader within the movement for over thirty years and has taught most of what I know about environmental conservation. While he would always take me hiking, camping, and rafting, he also taught me that the spiritual value of the outdoors alone is not enough to save nature against economic interests.

Unpopular speech is absolutely vital to the health of our nation.

When I think of my background, if I was privileged on any level, it was in terms of the kind of exposure to experience and bohe-mian cultural influence that my parents and my uncles and my grandfather gave me. On both sides I come from an extremely eccentric, artsy, intellectually intense, activist family.

Sometimes their oppression of emotion and the weird way it comes out is more interesting than painting it in bold primary colors.