I'm proud to be a Michigander, but I look around at the Michigan that my kids are growing up in and it doesn't look like the Michigan that I think of when I talk about my pride.

Lots of women candidates get compared to one another because there's so few women in office and positions in corporate America.

There have been too few women in leadership because they haven't had the opportunities.

At a time when too many people want to separate us by building walls, we here in Michigan are going to get back to building bridges together.

I believe you cannot survive in this global economy without some form of postsecondary education.

My parents were not affluent people and were not - didn't come from the extremities of education. My mother had a high school diploma. I often think I so wish she'd come out of the hills in Appalachia and been able to go on to college. I think she would have made a wonderful teacher.

As we go through this transition where a lot more people will be reading on devices, nobody is paying enough attention to make sure it's a smooth transition. I believe we still need places where people can go to handle, hold and talk about books, get information about what books are out there, and so on.

It was in Austin that I had the idea for 'Days of Heaven.' I found myself alone for a summer in the town I had left as a high school student. There were those green, undulating hills, and this very beautiful river, the Colorado. The place is inspired and inspiring.