In a social studies class I did a paper on the history of Attica, which ended up being a little book that I created.

What I adore is mixing the unexpected, things you don't imagine should go together

There were neighbors that I played with and did all the things that children do. I did mow the lawn. I did help with various things that needed to be done to occupy my time.

The Japanese are hard to understand, but once you do the world is your oyster.

At school there were some programs in music. I did take piano lessons, and we had a piano at home. I got very interested in that.

In terms of any sacrifices at the time [of World War II], I was somewhat protected living on a small farm where there was food, different perhaps from living in a city environment. I know such things as gas rationing did exist, but it wasn't anything that interfered with my daily activity.

The environment itself was culturally a vacuum, in that there was simply nothing that would inspire me in the arts. But my parents were always very supportive of anything that I explored or wanted to do.