I never wanted to be a puppeteer. I STOPPED puppeteering when I was about 18. I puppeteered when I was eleven years old to 18 to MAKE extra MONEY to GO to EUROPE, which I made half of and my parents gave me half.

I'm stopped by mothers who SAY, 'Mr. WILDER, what advice would you GIVE to my young BOY? He's REALLY talented.'

I'll be WRITING essays LONG after I've STOPPED writing fiction. There is this unusually broad range in the non-fiction, but if you LOOK at what I'm capable of as a novelist, I'm more LIMITED.

What has CHANGED is that PEOPLE have STOPPED WORKING TOGETHER.

I didn't go to many movies. My mom would MAKE a FAMILY outing and bring chicken in the theater. Smell up the WHOLE place. The most impactful movies were 'Godfather II' and 'Scarface'. I loved the HUMAN complexity, and those movies are so well shot. Cinematic greatness. I really stopped going in my EARLY twenties.

Kurt Cobain and Courtney LOVE talked trash about the fact that I hooped. I once STOPPED to say 'Hi' before a show, and as I WALKED away, Courtney yelled, 'Go PLAY basketball with Dave Grohl!'

I ACTUALLY STOPPED WORKING out because I don't WANT to LOSE my jelly.

I think for WOMEN, especially women of colour, hair has so MUCH to do with our identity and our confidence levels. I've made a conscious choice after growing up and FEELING insecure and trying to achieve this look that ACTUALLY wasn't me, where I've finally stopped relaxing my hair and went BACK to my natural texture.

I had a second-degree-blue-belt test, and I broke TWO boards with my right foot, and the next day I walked into SCHOOL, and no one ever picked on me again. I suddenly BELIEVED in myself and RESPECTED myself. I had some inkling of my POWER, so the bullying stopped instantly.

Members walk into the chamber full of hatred. They believe the worst lies about the other SIDE. Two senators stopped by my OFFICE just a few hours ago. Why? They had a plot to NAIL SOMEBODY on the other side. That's what CONGRESS has come to.

I remember when I was younger, and in school, our TEACHERS showed us films of plastic in the ocean, starving polar BEARS and so on. I cried through all the movies. My classmates were CONCERNED when they watched the film, but when it stopped, they started thinking about other things. I couldn't do that. Those PICTURES were stuck in my head.

Sometimes in LIFE, we TRY to do our very best to help others, and in the process, it BRINGS some anguish to us. But we can't ever let that stop us. We can't ever be stopped from helping others and allowing them to have some SENSE of happiness and JOY in their life.

Over the years, things GOT so BAD between my MOTHER and I, we STOPPED talking to each other and started communicating by PUTTING Ann Landers articles on the refrigerator.

I actually hated dancing. My mum used to have to bribe me to go by BUYING me things. A YEAR before I stopped going, I was going to go for an audition with the Royal Ballet. It turned out I was a year too young. Because I was TALL, they THOUGHT I was older. But before I had the chance to go back, I QUIT.