My mother, a very eclectic listener, had the first Doors album and gave it to me when I expressed interest in the band. It was one of the first records I ever had. As the years passed, the babysitters who used to look after me would bring their Doors albums to the apartment, and that's how I got to hear their later work.

I have built my life to pursue the new. I don't have family, don't know many people and I am usually ready to leave within an hour.

While I have no empirical evidence to back this up, I bet that the number of homosexual people per thousand has not fluctuated all that much over the centuries. I do not believe the dented wisdom my father used to extol, that homosexuality was a sure sign of a civilization in decline.

I never thought about getting any tattoos removed.

The prison-industrial complex and the military-industrial complex are here with us and are multi-billion dollar enterprises. We can make more money off the kid in Compton if he's a criminal instead of a scholar. It's business.

Disappointment always arrives before hope and the darkness of night comes before the dawn. Don't lose hope now because things will brighter with the new day.

August, the summer's last messenger of misery, is a hollow actor.