When you have a conflict, that means that there are truths that have to be addressed on each side of the conflict. And when you have a conflict, then it's an educational process to try to resolve the conflict. And to resolve that, you have to get people on both sides of the conflict involved so that they can dialogue.

I think organized labor is a necessary part of democracy. Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth.

Let's teach kids, at the kindergarten level, what the contributions of people of color were to building the United States of America.

I always saw my role as getting LGBT to support the immigrant rights movement - which they did - and getting Latino organizations to support the women's movement, for reproductive rights. So that's kind of the work that I've always been doing.

It's much more work for the mother of an autistic child to have a job, because working with an autistic child is such a hassle until they go to school.

In her second career as a minister, my mother defied a legacy of chauvinism to become a leader of our community, overseeing a church that served as a hub, offering parenting classes, a food pantry, after-school programming, and - in the wake of Hurricane Katrina - a lifeline to those ravaged by loss.

What I find problematic is the suggestion that when, say, Madonna adopts an African child, she is saving Africa. It's not that simple. You have to do more than go there and adopt a child or show us pictures of children with flies in their eyes. That simplifies Africa.

No work-family balance will ever fully take hold if the social conditions that might make it possible - men who are willing to share parenting and housework, communities that value work in the home as highly as work on the job, and policymakers and elected officials who are prepared to demand family-friendly reforms - remain out of reach.