I always say that writing non-fiction versus writing fiction is a bit like architecture versus abstract painting.

America's story is largely an immigrant story. That hasn't changed since the Pilgrims ate their first turkey some four hundred years ago, and they were the original boat people.

Today, more people are crossing various borders in order to survive, thrive, change their lives. Even if you don't cross the border, with demographic shifts, the border sometimes crosses you.

I think in a larger sense, immigrant narrative is comprehensive and speaks to the core of human experience.

I am glad to see the wheels are moving at last toward comprehensive immigration reform after last year's election. I am glad that immigrants are speaking up.

Art is the lesser sister to medicine. It aims to heal.

In the war on terrorism, the immigrant is often the scapegoat.

That experience of losing home, longing for home, that yearning for meaning and rootedness and identity in a floating world, it's what often makes an immigrant story into an American story .

Precious things lost are transmutable. They refuse oblivion. They simply wait to be rendered into testimonies, into stories and songs.

It's unfortunate that the country of immigrants has turned its back on immigrants. The atmosphere after 9/11 is toxic.

In non-fiction you have to stay true to historical events, be they personal or national .

The day she was born, her grandfather made her a ring of silver and a polished stone, because he loved her already.

If I had a choice, if I had understood earlier that the reason my days were all the same was because I wanted them like that, perhaps...

I think that addiction is a very, very important thing that has to be treated, but has to be treated as a health problem and not as a police problem.

Abstinence from sins is better than seeking help afterwards.

Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles.

The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet.

My uncle was a music producer and even he'd tell me to get a proper job. I tried to get him to give me five grand to make an album - it didn't happen.

Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

The temperature of the tropic oceans is warmer than it's been in 150 years

The best thing you can do is follow your dreams