Growing up in Vancouver in the 1950s, I was often capricious and temperamental, quick to laugh, even quicker to feel despair, prone to flailing my arms, pouting and crying when things didn't go my way, or I thought something was unfair, or I was bullied by my sisters.

The problem with mental illness, as opposed to physical illness, is that it involves wrong thinking or impaired insight. You're not thinking correctly.

I was a late bloomer on the career front.

Our youth-oriented society does not have a clearly defined place for the older woman.

Teach for America recruits top recent college grads, young professionals, people we believe are the U.S.'s most promising future leaders, and asks them to commit two years to teach in high-need urban and rural communities.

While we don't have the authority on the state level to change federal policy, my fellow governors and I do have a duty to protect our states' citizens, and we have a personal responsibility to act when we have the power to do so.

Fortunately, good policy, true principles, and effective leadership work whenever they are tried. When we reduce government, balance budgets, and keep taxes as low as possible, states respond in a positive way.

I think effective leaders typically are able to see the future to a certain degree and then try to take actions to shape it in some way.