My mother was the only girl in the family. One brother was District Attorney of Odessa or something; another was teaching classical languages; another was a captain of a battleship of the Black Navy; and still another was a chemist and icthyologist.

When it was availed to me that I had free time, I chose to go to cooking school every day, six hours a day, like a diploma program. I wanted to learn something new.

When a person is humiliated, when his rights are being violated, and he does not have the proper education, naturally he gravitates toward terrorism.

My mother was Catholic, my father not. I went to Catholic high school. Every form of education failed me. I was trouble.

The thing that's carried over from my visual-art education into what I do musically is my openness.