I'd got accepted to a seminary in Wisconsin, and I was gonna become a priest, but at the last second I thought, 'I’ll just go to public school.' I had just gotten a new amplifier in my bedroom, and I didn’t think I was allowed to take it with me.

Midwifery is an accepted practice in Wisconsin, and the governor thinks it's certainly a good idea that there be basic standards in place to protect the lives of children and expecting mothers.

a gradual leaking away of all conviction

From my father I heard only these words: "But you were born for such a day as this." He closed the book and my mother joined him in embracing me. They prayed over me and they gave me a blessing. And some blessings, like the one my conservative Christian parents gave to their soon-to-be-Lutheran pastor daughter who had put them through hell, are the kind of blessings that stay with you for the rest of your life. The kind you can't speak of without crying all over again.

It's been stated that we're the second tenant in some correspondence, and it's not fair. We have to be accepted and given equal status.

Every second is mapped out and he has this total childish fascination with color and shapes and sequences.