I made a crash landing here on Earth on February 14, 1962, in the Shreveport Catholic Charities Home for un-wed mothers. The infamous Bonnie and Clyde lost their lives just miles from where I was born. Like outlaws ourselves, my birth mother and I were on the run from the day she found out I was part of her.

Beauty might bring happiness, but happiness always brings beauty.

Today I see beauty everywhere I go, in every face I see, in every single soul, and sometimes even in myself.

It's our hearts and brains that we should exercise more often. You can put on all the makeup you want, but it won't make your soul pretty.

I don't use 'always do this,' 'never say that' and I never give advice because I'm not the end-all, be-all authority.

This reference to the Scots side of her ancestry is the first of two visual explorations into Tori Amos's diverse cultural past. As is the case for many of us, Tori's ancestry is a mix of races and religions, philosophies and professions, fortunes and foibles. What to some may seem like a family tree grown wild and untamed is actually a mighty oak that has weathered life's many storms and can still put out a rare and beautiful blossom like Tori.

Makeup should be fun, not fascist.