Be content where you are! The sooner I let go of the notion that something could only be one way, the way I had planned it, without fail, I have always gotten more done and with far less discomfort.

As an artist, I think it is important for us to mark places in history where we have made progress, to celebrate by expressing that reality.

Although here - Los Angeles 2014 - we can have a lighthearted movie about romance and living your life without persecution, that freedom does not exist in the rest of the world and not even in the rest of our country. There are places where they are going backward, away from freedom. Places where same-sex couples are beaten, killed, not allowed to raise families, forced to hide their lifestyle.

I try to not let there be too many steps between what I am mostly focusing on and what I am physically doing. If you are constantly standing back and looking at the whole map, you are going to miss a lot of turns and feel overwhelmed.

Be content where you are! The sooner I let go of the notion that something could only be one way, the way I had planned it, without fail, I have always gotten more done and with far less discomfort.

One of my favorite things is watching my children learn something new. The combination of innocence and excitement makes a parent feel truly alive, even if only for a second and peripherally.

We need to welcome the experimental creativity that is always searching out new ways of singing the Gospel, and banish the fear that grips us when familiar music passes away.