The military infrastructure grew me. My faith in God is important my belief in my country is important my relationship to my family is important the things that Mom and Dad tell you growing up are important.

We've got activists all across the country like the members of the Million Mom March organization some of their leaders are here tonight. We're phone banking congressional offices and pursuing editorial boards.

I got tackled once in a movie theater. I was with my mom and brother and then suddenly I got hit from behind and sort of sprawled out on the candy counter.

My mother and my grandmother are pioneers of Mexican cuisine in this country so I grew up in the kitchen. My mom Zarela Martinez was by far my biggest influence and inspiration - and toughest critic.

Some of the best times I've spent in Colorado have been in the backcountry with my mom and siblings and more recently with my own kids. That is why I'm concerned to see today's kids spending more time browsing the Internet than exploring nature.

I'm from Tennessee. My mom lives in Nashville. I'm born and bred country. That's all I listen to.

I had no idea of the size of my bank account as a teen and I didn't care to know. That was my mom's job I figured that I would just find out when I turned 18. If you can't trust your mom then who can you trust?

Country was about character. Country's changed because of monsters like Clear Channel who bought up all the stations and sliced them up into formats. Our demographic is now the soccer mom.

All of us kids ended up 'doing Mom.' There are four of us who've tried show business. Five if you insist on counting my sister the nun who does liturgical dance.

My mom and I used to listen to records read and take train rides across the country in the summer. It was a very chill life. She didn't expose me to anything that was ahead of my development but she expected me to adjust to her world - she did not expect to adjust to mine.