How absurd that our students tuck their cell phones, BlackBerrys, iPads, and iPods into their backpacks when they enter a classroom and pull out a tattered textbook.

I am old enough to remember when America's K-12 public schools were the best in the world. I am a proud graduate of them, and I credit much of my success to what I learned in Detroit Public Schools and at Michigan State University.

Artists rarely do the same thing over and over again. Art is about the new, doing things in a new way.

I learned to embrace risk, as long as it was well thought out and, in a worst-case scenario, I'd still land on my feet.

I never stay anywhere — parties , museums, meetings — longer than 3 hours.

Philanthropy is activism.

Any city in America would like to get a museum built if they didn't have to pay for it.