I am of the very last generation who didn't have computers at school. As we grow old we'll become something of an aberration.

Today most young women are exposed to technology at a very young age with mobile phones tablets the Web or social media. They are much more proficient with technology than prior generations since they use it for all their school work communication and entertainment.

Yet in spite of this world-wide system of linkages there is at this very moment a general feeling that communication is breaking down everywhere on an unparalleled scale.

You're talking about a younger generation Generation Y whose interpersonal communication skills are different from Generation X. The younger generation is more comfortable saying something through a digital mechanism than even face to face.

Really each era has its own false nostalgia. We all put a picket fence up around something. For my generation it was the '50s and for other generations it will be something else. Change is scary for everyone as is complexity contradiction and an uncertain future.

We have to raise the consciousness the only way poets can change the world is to raise the consciousness of the general populace.

Polite and velvety leaders who take care to avoid bruising others are generally not as effective at forcing change.

I want to be able to look back and say 'I've done everything I can and I was successful.' I don't want to look back and say I should have done this or that. I'd like to change things for the younger generation of swimmers coming along.

Washington is still very much a male-oriented culture. Being from Los Angeles I think it is less so there - there is less attachment to tradition perhaps there is more flexibility more acceptance of change generally. That is partly because of Hollywood.

Unless it's a specific accent or something about physicality you have to change I am generally not such a conscious actor.