I was trying to disturb the war.

I've been obsessed with stopping people from blowing each other's brains out since I was ten.

In this society, we don't like to face the future and the dying process and all of it. Most of us really don't want to think about it, but it's facing me in the mirror every day.

My life is a crystal teardrop. There are snowflakes falling in the teardrop and little figures trudging in slow motion.

Mostly what I listen to when I turn on my little iPod is opera.

I never pretended to be rock star. I would make a lousy rock star. I don't have the right voice for it. I don't have the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" spirit. But the greatest flattery in the last couple of years is being called a "badass" by young singers.

I have heard more than once, 'Shut up and sing!' and I get it now.