As a coping mechanism, or as a way to make a little hard count by shilling demons in the shadows, I try not to belittle the thought process of the conspiracy theorists. As a cocktail waitress in Vegas once schooled me: never get down on anybody else's hustle.

I've no desire to start a movement, to be the first name on an open petition, or to be the poster child for disgruntled writers.

I don't know when I made that active decision to be a writer or to try to write, but I know I always liked storytelling.

For children, diversity needs to be real and not merely relegated to learning the names of the usual suspects during Black History Month or enjoying south-of-the-border cuisine on Cinco de Mayo. It means talking to and spending time with kids not like them so that they may discover those kids are in fact just like them.

Quite simply, quite plainly, just by virtue of his being, Barack Obama is America. The first true American to lead our nation.

I've written films that are violent. I'm not big on sitting and watching violence.

My kids will find me walking around the house talking to myself and think I'm going crazy. I like to read the scripts out loud and really get the rhythm for the dialogue.