There is no doubt that the way journalism worked when I was growing up and getting started has changed forever.

But we cannot rely on memorials and museums alone. We can tell ourselves we will never forget and we likely won't. But we need to make sure that we teach history to those who never had the opportunity to remember in the first place.

Covering the civil-rights movement was a mind- and eye-opener for me. Houston was a segregated society, as was Texas as a whole - some of it by law, a lot of it by fear and tradition. But there was no violence where I lived, and if there was hate, it was either concealed from me or I just didn't recognize it.

I don't back down. I don't cave when the pressure gets too great from these partisan political ideological forces.

What I've learned is I want to enjoy my life, and food is a big part of it.

Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.

The experience of being in space didn't change my perspective of myself or of the planet or of life. I had no spiritual experience.

Mother Teresa was asked what was the meaning of life, and she said to help other people, and I thought, 'What a strange thing to say' - but maybe it's the right thing to say.