I think poetry can lead to policy, and I can hear the laughter when I say that.

I want a theory to come out to guide policy.

Because I write intuitively and image-by-image and moment-by-moment, my writing has to be powered by feelings and emotions.

At bottom, I'm a cheerful person.

I try to be even-handed and fair-minded about my view of history. I don't romanticize one side and demonize the other, though I do think that if you're suffering a lot, especially in the Bob Marley sense, suffering becomes a kind of university out of which you'll learn some hard lessons.

I love the fact that I can go to a museum now that tells me I'm in the postmodern age.

Bruce Lee, before he fought, he would try to visualize how the fight would go, because he was visualizing a victorious path out of the combat.