Patriotism alone is not enough.
Maybe it's because I grew up during the MTV generation, but to me a perfect song is one I can imagine a music video to, a song that can take you into a dream.
The thing that grounds you, and the thing that really gives you a sense of wholeness, is your family, friends and your community. Those are the things that can mirror back to you what you're experiencing, and can affirm to you that the stories you are telling are true.
I have long admired Caroline Leavitt's probing insight into people, her wit and compassion, her ability to find humor in dark situations, and conversely, her tenderness towards characters.
I've had a lot of different lives. I was adopted, I grew up in Nebraska, and then I went to Northwestern. . . Then I had this really extraordinary, different life than my parents.
I also have just my own limits about stuff. I'm not interested in writing graphically about sexual assault for example. I feel like the stuff that I'm fascinated by is the stuff that's part of the public imagination of what horror is. The bleakness is a different issue. I think that just stems from my personality. I wish that I offered a little more glimmer of hope sometimes.
I've been reading Peter Straub since I was a teenager, and his work is hardwired into my brain. A Dark Matter contains echoes of all that has been great about Straub's previous work and builds upon it. This Rashomon-like tale is as spooky and frightening as anything he has written, but it's also an intense and moving celebration of love. Out of the darkness comes, ultimately, a surprising and haunting sense of joy.
We really just try not to think about the scrutiny and the pressure. We're just trying to make the show that we like, and we're working really hard at it.
You are an instrument of God. Don't leave the instrument sitting in its case, my son. Play! Leave no part of your instrument unexplored. Why settle for 'Three Blind Mice' when you can can play the 'Gloria'? No, not Bach's 'Gloria. ' Yours! Your 'Gloria' lives within you. The greatest sin is not finding it, ignoring what God made possible in you.
A few years ago I appeared on GLEE and, Jane Lynch and I did a remake of the song that was very popular - someone told me it was in the Top 100 when it was released. First, walking on the set of GLEE the day we filmed it was surreal as they had recreated the entire original set from the music video. It was bizarre - but fun.
My family immigrated when I was 3, and our predecessors inhabited the Korean Peninsula for as long as can be recalled.