In my neighborhood - West 121st Street in New York, "white Harlem" - there were only two drugs: smack and marijuana. By the time I was 13, some friends and I were using marijuana fairly regularly. The Reefer Madness myth was still very strong then, but I'd been into jazz and those lyrics included so many casual references to pot that it was completely demystified for me.

Religion is like a pair of shoes.....Find one that fits for you, but don't make me wear your shoes.

I can remember staring at the orphanage and feeling envy.

My father? My father left when I was quite young. Well actually, he was asked to leave. He had trouble metabolizing alcohol.

People say life begins at conception, I say life began about a billion years ago and it's a continuous process.

Every day I beat my own previous record for the number of consecutive days I’ve stayed alive.

And now, in the interest of equal time, here is a message from the National