I think the reason you see so many people dropping out of politics is because there's an anti-poetic strain in modern political discourse.

Creativity is essential to any kind of joyful living. Sometimes I act, sometimes I draw, I paint, I write poems. I can't imagine living without it.

A combination of working in politics as well as teaching and being [an actor] certainly helped. I became so much more comfortable in front of a crowd. I felt like I was calling on all those other experiences.

I feel much more comfortable in politics than I did in book writing. Book writing is so hard. Politics felt easy compared to that.

New York City is one of the most vulnerable cities in the world to climate change, so I see Keystone as the central threat to New York.

What happens in New York affects national policy in very significant ways.

I think a lot of the reason people are attracted to the Keystone pipeline is because at least we're doing something. There's a fear that society will collapse if it's not acting. To contrast those actions with other actions is important in making it feel plausible. Maybe we must have the size of the dream meet the size of the threat.