We live in a country that used to have a can-do attitude and now we have a 'what-can-you-do-for-me?' attitude and what I try to do is find ways that we can develop common ground.

I've sort of escaped my background as people often do through art and culture.

I have never denied my background or my culture. I have taught my child to embrace her Mexican heritage to love my first language Spanish to learn about Mexican history music folk art food and even the Mexican candy I grew up with.

I think music is the greatest art form that exists and I think people listen to music for different reasons and it serves different purposes. Some of it is background music and some of it is things that might affect a person's day if not their life or change an attitude. The best songs are the ones that make you feel something.

The artist one day falls through a hole in the brambles and from that moment he is following the dark rapids of an underground river which may sometimes flow so near to the surface that the laughing picnic parties are heard above.

The poor monkey quietly seated on the ground seemed to be in sore trouble at this display of anger.

The anger that Uncle Junior has comes from my background. My father was the son of an Italian immigrant and I've seen the fire of the Italian temperament. It can be explosive sometimes in ways that are both funny and tragic.

You know 'The Golden Girls' was a very unusual show to start on. I was young and it was a show about old people and it was a very traditional show but it was also an amazing training ground for a joke-writer. It forced me to learn those skills.

I was friends with all different people and all different groups. And that led me to being friends with a few people who didn't even go to my school. Now I have the most amazing collection of friends of all ethnic backgrounds and upbringing and financial backgrounds.

I think Paul Newman had an amazing career. I also love what Tom Hanks has done. He has always made very grounded movies that have something to say. He has found a way to make blockbusters that are about something and that is what I want to do.