Sometimes the issue is about whether families and communities think girls are even worthy of an education in the first place. It's about whether girls are valued only for their labor and reproductive capacities or for their minds as well. And it's about whether women are viewed as second-class citizens or as full human beings entitled to the same rights and opportunities as men.

Even in these tough economic times, Barack [Obama] has left the VA budget as is so that they're prepared to deal with this influx of men and women who are coming home and dealing with a whole array of issues, not just around mental health but just caregiving and the stresses of reconnecting with families who have been away from each other for a very long time.

And I come here as a daughter, raised on the South Side of Chicago - by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me.

With this new initiative, Disney is doing what no major media company has ever done before in the United States. And what I hope every company will do going forward when it comes to the ads they show and the food they sell they're asking themselves one simple question: Is this good for our kids?

We're starting to see, as the economy improves, that the unemployment rate among veterans and military spouses - we're seeing some improvement in those numbers. And that's a good thing.

I mean, hope doesn't get actualized in three and a half years. If that were the case, we'd be out of luck as a country.

I know what makes me happy. I pick the clothes that make me happy - sometimes people like them, sometimes they don't. I try to listen to my own internal guide.