9/11 just seemed to come out of the blue. And there were people asking questions, but then there were no answers. At some point, it just turned into, "We've got to do what we've got to do." And I think those are the moments when you grow, when you get the opportunity to try to figure out, exactly as you said, what price are you paying, and if it's worth that price.

When you run into someone in NY it is usually a pleasant surprise. When you run into someone in LA you usually had a car accident.

Never root for a team whose uniforms have elastic stretch waistbands.

I look forward to being older, when what you look like becomes less and less an issue and what you are is the point.

I feel my family's needs are a priority. I'm not comfortable with the idea of serving the many and ignoring my family.

Now, as I move through my fifties, I can be professional and domestic, creative and intellectual, patient and urgent. I have learned that we should never settle for someone else's definition of who we can be. Growing to this age, I realize, is kind of like feeling your voice deepen. It's still your voice, but it has more substance, and it sounds like it knows its own origins.

We stand a chance of getting a president who has probably killed more people before he gets into office than any president in the history of the United States.