You can always tell a person's real character and personhood by those who closely surround him, especially if they're family.
It sounds corny to say, but we're like a family. That experience for all of us really created a bond... The 'West Side Story' experience, it really is a family. There's a closeness that has continued.
'The Federalist' is a small staff, and our close-knit family of senior contributors outwork our competition because of that closeness.
If people look at me and, certainly, my brothers, and they see strength and guts, they'd have to know my parents. If they wanted to know why we're so close as a family, that closeness comes from my mother and father.
There's nothing I value more than the closeness of friends and family, a smile as I pass someone on the street.
I think my family and closest friends are learning about my need to withdraw, and I am learning how to restore and store my energy to both serve the community to the best of my ability and to serve my writer's heart.
I'm happy. I've had a great career. I adore my family. My closest friends from decades ago remain my closest friends.
I am not somebody who likes to give advice, or anything like that, unless it's my closest friends or family.
Weddings seem to be magnets for mishap and for whatever craziness lurks in family closets. In more ways than one, weddings bring out the ding-dong in everybody involved.
My twin sister, my cousin, and I used to write and perform plays for my family. We raided the closets for costumes and fought over parts. I'm sure I was the bossiest one.
I've seen the video played over and over, and it replays in my head constantly. To be able to walk in his exact footsteps is an extremely huge honor, and I did this for him as much as I did it for my family to get some closure too.
My father was always clowning around. It was a huge influence on me. In my family, everything is turned into a joke.
Whenever I get a little chance to get to Orlando, I like to take a couple days' break with the family, just hang out, go clubbing around town.
I had come from a middle-class family in Port Washington, Long Island, and I was really clueless about Wall Street. My first job there I basically got fired from.
Our house was cluttered with little charms, thoughtfully placed. There were all kinds of little things going on. Like, my mom made a lampshade out of a picture of our family, but if you look closely, there's a baby Jesus that she cut up and put just above all of us.
Maybe almost 20 years ago, I was like, 'God, I need to be more direct.' And I found times that I could practice it when it was maybe not my family or friends or co-workers. It's a quality that's rarely disliked.
I've actually always started with what feels most natural. Which is, the people who surround me in my daily life. So, the first show I ever wrote, which is called 'Surface Transit,' was based in part on people I knew from my family. Co-workers, ex-boyfriends. All of that kind of thing.
My family and I took visits to each and every school and listened to each coaching staff. I felt the most comfortable with and really excited about playing at SC. Being close to home in one of the best offensive systems is paying off now as I'm making the jump to the pros.
My mother and stepfather were in Vaudeville. And my stepfather was an alcoholic. It was a lot of roller coaster times. But it's all I knew. I think they did the best they could under the circumstances, with me and all the family.
I traveled to Ireland to research 'Sandcastles,' to visit the coastline where my ancestors looked toward America, the tiny town they once loved so much, and the docks from which they sailed toward their dreams of building a better life for their family. The answers I found on that journey are woven through the novel.
