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

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.

I am hopeful that the pendulum swings toward seeing immigrants in favorable terms once more.

Name the different kinds of people, ’ said Miss Lupescu. ‘Now.’Bod thought for a moment. ‘The living, ’ he said. ‘Er. The dead.’ He stopped. Then, ‘... Cats?’ he offered, uncertainly.

I am boring, but I'm ok with it. I'm the anchor, the shoulder...I'm an average man...with a truly extraordinary wife

Poetry to me is prayer.

Don't be reluctant to give of yourself generously, it's the mark of caring and compassion and personal greatness.

If you asked a sample of Americans "What is the temperature of Mars?" about 8% would say they don't know.

Science and education, when devoid of a social conscience or environmental and human concern, are meaningless.

Killing your rival doesn’t guarantee happiness. Sometimes it ruins any chance you have of it instead. Memories of dead men hold far more power than the annoyances of living ones.

A nice, easy place for freedom of speech to be eroded is comics, because comics are a natural target whenever an election comes up.

So could we please not mob the three-thousand-plus-year-old reaper like tweens at a boy-band concert?

Anything that disturbs your comfort factor is good for you.