I like people who take responsibility for their lives.

I couldn't speak well. I went to speech therapy for 10 years. And I was sort of frustrated in that sense.

I think it's difficult for young people to acknowledge being smart, to knowledge being a reader. I see kids who are embarrassed to read books. They're embarrassed to have people see them doing it.

I like people who take responsibility for their lives.

If what I read doesn't reflect my life - whether I'm gay or Latino or on welfare - doesn't that really mean that my life is not valuable?

And I see the - you know, when I go to the juvenile detention centers and prisons, I see people who can't read now. And I know that when they leave those prisons and those detention centers, they're not going to be able to make it in our society.

It's a hard life sometimes and the biggest temptation is to let how hard it is be an excuse to weaken