I came back to work when my children were two months old. At that early age, they seem to have little awareness of anybody but their Raggedy Ann dolls, so it wasn't a matter of them missing me. I was missing them.

I would have been a terrible mother because I'm basically a very selfish human being. Not that that has stopped most people going off and having children.

Workers should have Sundays off because Sunday is for the family. Calling for Sundays to be a holiday.

When my mother left home, her family sat shivah for her, more because my father was not Jewish than because he was black.

As a parent, it's my responsibility to equip my child to do this - to grieve when grief is necessary and to realize that life is still profoundly beautiful and worth living despite the fact that we inevitably lose one another and that life ends, and we don't know what happens after death.

First thing in the morning, we're really tired, and we look at each other and we wonder, 'Are we ever going to get sleep?' And yet, it doesn't matter if you don't get sleep. It's an honor to take care of them.