It's always a huge red flag for me when somebody's reticent or reluctant or a little slow in providing thoughtful references that are a testament to them as a person and their professional accomplishments.
It always seemed to me ironic that the McCain campaign kept referring sneeringly to Obama's meager resume - 'a mere community organizer!' - before he entered electoral politics. It was Obama's experience as a community organizer that proved such a killer app when he applied that skill to the Internet.
I find it disturbing that the media keeps referring to my marriage, since I got divorced in 1979. But the media never wants to let me forget.
People were referring to me as the new Anita Bryant. Anita would get a little jealous.
MTV has a been a great partner over the years. I'm truly grateful for the platform they've provided for me to create and refine compelling, entertaining media at the highest level.
Day to day and doing the work and getting to that honest point - that, for me, is always about - and always will be as long as I do this - refining and refining and refining and refining the truth... constantly being as truthful and honest and raw and real as you can be.
I'm not an academic; I'm not an archaeologist. I'm a writer, communicating ideas to the public. There is a model of how the past is, and a lot of academic archaeology is about refining the model. It's not about changing the model radically. I'm not aware of any current which is about radically changing the model. It's just me, really.
For me, being in front of a camera is a matter of practicing and refining your art. I think, if you're telling a story worth telling, it's worth investing the time into developing.
To me, getting notes, honing the part, and refining the role is the real fun of the play.
Reflecting on where I came from helps me to appreciate and balance what I have now.
We are reflections of one another, therefore I know that you are part of me and I am part of you because we are all projections of the universal principles of creation/destruction polarities of the same infinite consciousness that we call God.
Jughead, to me, was reflective of a teen experience that made a lot of sense to me.
There's nothing that reflects me. I'm unreflectable!
My Twitter reflects what's going on with me in my life.
I do want to be a representative of the African community, and I want to hold myself and dress myself in a way that reflects that. I want black kids to see me and think, 'Okay, he's carrying himself as a black man, and that's how a black man should carry himself.'
When people tell me I can't do something, I have a visceral reflex to say, 'Yes, I can.'
To be honest with you, the fact that people vibe with my music is just a really positive byproduct of something that is just a reflex to me. The fact that people even care to listen means a lot to me.
I swear, if anyone near me even so much as whispers the sentence 'Women probably don't want to direct,' my fist will fly as a reflex action.
I was doing all these hand exercises, trying to move things like other kids, catch things like other kids, and change my reflexes, and I guess I just didn't stop. That's why if somebody says to me, 'Can I learn this?' I will say, 'Probably, if you can get the psychology right.'
I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.
