OK, it was black, it was below grade, I was female, Asian American, young, too young to have served. Yet I think none of the opposition in that sense hurt me.

Even though I build buildings and I pursue my architecture, I pursue it as an artist. I deliberately keep a tiny studio. I don't want to be an architectural firm. I want to remain an artist.

We were unusually brought up; there was no gender differentiation. I was never thought of as any less than my brother.

When I was very little, we would get letters from China, in Chinese, and they' be censored. We were a very insular little family.

To me, the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom.

Some of your teachers are actually closer in age to you than you think.

I deliberately did not read anything about the Vietnam War because I felt the politics of the war eclipsed what happened to the veterans. The politics were irrelevant to what this memorial was.