It's very hard to find good and wholesome, edifying and challenging writing for the students to perform. In my classroom I strive to do that as best as I can.

As I got older, the role that I ended up (playing) on One Life to Live was a mother because, by then, I had a stable marriage - so I thought - and a beautiful son and mother roles became what I was doing well. I was still the Latina mom who very much related to people who love family. All those traditional values (were) coming back into my life.

When you hit the things that are relevant to the next generation, - it's a way for young people to feel like "Somebody understands me. Church is not irrelevant. I feel that my hurts are being addressed. Things that I am concerned about are being talked about."

God sent me a woman who was an older woman - who wasn't much older than me but she was older in the sense (of her relationship with) the Lord...She started guiding me. She was very much a model for my life.

Broke up created a crisis...in every circumstance because a family gets blown apart. We all know what that does to a child. We all know what that does to a woman's identity. But, at the same time, it caused me to start to reevaluate all those things weren't able to stay intact - all the people's attention, all the success, the financial security. It didn't have any value.

I got on the TV show at 40 and that is something very rare. So, I know that God gave me that role (on) One Life to Live - the role of Carlotta, the role of a mom.

I had a very marginal understanding of what faith in God was growing up because, although I went to a Catholic school, without having parents who really were actively involved in faith there was no reinforcement of it. So, as a result of that I guess I just kind of thought that God was somebody that you put in a box and you put Him on a shelf and you called on him when you had crises.