Growing up in Texas, you were either pretty or smart. Smart didnt get you very far, because there werent too many job opportunities for women. I wondered why you couldnt be both.

I think sometimes women are not driven by the same, albeit, testosterone power thing that pushes men to get into politics.

Saving the world via medical research or going off to Gobi Desert to dust off dinosaur eggs is what I thought I might be doing when I was a kid, and Id love to bring those interests to a show like E.R. or The West Wing, or a movie like Jurassic Park.

What triggered a migraine for me may have no effect on someone else. For many people, coffee can relieve symptoms somewhat, but for me it was a trigger. You really have to find out what affects you individually.

I was a little fat pudgy kid with big thick glasses, and I was quiet and never said a word, you know -- teachers loved me, straight-A student.

When the AIDS epidemic broke, because I happened to be a science nerd and knew a lot about viruses and a lot about that virus at the time, I felt a moral obligation to go out and try to stem the fear and get out and explain to people what the disease was and how it worked.

Growing up in Texas, you were either pretty or smart. Smart didnt get you very far, because there werent too many job opportunities for women. I wondered why you couldnt be both.