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

My parents' names were Florian and Mabel Smith. My mother's maiden name was Dersam. They were of German heritage and were part of a family community with my grandparents and uncles and relatives. I was an only child.

Experience is the best teacher. A compelling story is a close second.

One association with the arts that I vividly remember was a magazine called Normal Instructor, a teachers' magazine, that Miss George would hold up with illustrations of great artworks like [Vincent] van Gogh and Rembrandt [van Rijn].

Charles Burchfield was exceptional. As such an accomplished artist, he had limited previous association with academia and teaching.

I was always kind of naïve, and really needed to be given some direction.

I think it was interesting that when you're in those formative years you respond to things that interest you and don't always know where they lead. But they accumulate and add up to something that enriches your later life or leads you to some new experience.