We lived in Manhattan, which was unbearable sometimes because it was so noisy. There were sirens blaring, construction sites going, people shouting and swearing at each other.

All you would hear every night on the news was that somebody had been shot dead in a certain part of Belfast. We lived opposite a judge, and there were always soldiers crouched down in our garden. We'd sit and talk to them, and I even used to sing to them!

When I was 5 years old, my best friends were Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen because we lived across the street from each other.

Living in New York for 10 months was incredible; it was everything I thought it was going to be and more.

Though I've been shouting about it for years, the nature of these sites as actual monuments to our past is beginning to catch on. If we treat our national monuments like national monuments, we're less likely to get this type of vandalism.

It is only when the partisan shouting stops that we can hear each other's voices and concerns.