As I begin to tell you my story, please know that it is painful. Even so, I wish to do so for all the victims out there so that...

Isn’t it funny how we always stick a label on ourselves? From where we were born to what we do, somehow we always manage to tie a label...

If joy is hidden behind a bed of thorns, then I will cut my hands to reach it...

My family was not too poor, but we most certainly weren’t rich. We lived in a joint home with my uncles who were illiterate farmers...

As the baby of the family, I was the apple of everyone’s eye. My dad was a businessperson who worked at a supermarket...

The hall reverberated with the sound of applause as my name was called and I strolled to the podium. The space was teeming...

When looking back at those days, I marvel at how far I have come. Maybe it was luck. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe I will never find out..

My dad and brother worked on our farm while my mom owned and operated the local grocery store. Our house was attached to the store...

In the year of my birth, 1952, our desolate Texas prairie lured only the wildcatter oil tycoons from the east coast and the hardworking...

I was the fastest boy at Whittier Woods Elementary School. When it was time for the races for the Presidential Physical Fitness awards...

I remember the fear in my mother’s eyes...I remember the pounding of my heart. It was the first night my father came home drunk...

To most of the world, I’m known as the “She Bangs” Guy, the man whose American Idol audition had news outlets dubbing...

My parents got married in the ‘70s. Twenty years later, I guess they figured it was about time to have a child. That’s where I came...

A bird loves to feel the wind in his wings and the clouds brushing his feathers as he flies. It is exhilarating. It is his life...

If uninterrupted, I could talk to you about optics (which is the study of light and its properties) for the rest of my life...

Growing up, I saw thousands of faces in my town. I was born in Kasur, Punjab, in Pakistan. Kasur is a very small city...

The first 15 years of my life was bliss. I was born in the city of Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 2000, as an only child to my parents...

I think I realized early on that I could either be really bitter about it, or I could gain a lot of really great life skills...

I could have easily had a very normal life, had a 9-to-5 job, live paycheck-to-paycheck, and dream of big things without acting...

I was the only girl in my family and had three older brothers. My mom was a teacher and my dad worked in communications...