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

There was a certain amount of discipline, I think; my parents wanted to be sure that I was not just sitting around doing nothing.

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

It was mainly a growing farm, although we did have chickens and a few animals, but I did help to some degree with that. I have to say that it was not my favorite association.I did what I was asked to do.

The pastors and ministry leaders came away energized to have voter registration drives at their churches and motivated to encourage their congregations to "vote their values."

Fortunately, I had cousins who lived in Buffalo and would often go to visit them, which I loved to do because I liked Buffalo as it was a big city. Even today, the bigger the city, the better.

At one point I had dreams of being in the school band, but I didn't play an instrument that qualified me, and that was a problem. I always had fantasies to be part of that, but I did take my piano lessons quite seriously.