Part of growing up is realizing the frustrating, heartbreaking truth that intense and sustained long-term effort is needed to effect change.

Obama set a record number of deportations of illegal immigrants in 2011, but that fact alone is misleading. Obama has spoken in favor of and has urged Congress to pass the DREAM Act, a bill that would allow young undocumented immigrants to stay in America, their home, and achieve citizenship by going to college or serving in the military.

The Profile in Courage Award recognizes elected officials who choose to do what is right, not what is easy, so that we might learn from their example. Each time we give the award, we bear witness to the past for the sake of the future.

Voting is great, but it's not an accomplishment. It's a responsibility.

Is a family just the strict definition of a small and discrete unit, or is it about the larger organic group that inevitably grows up around the smaller one?

My first child is going to be the oldest sibling to the next kid, and that may change with each and every year. I'm looking forward to how one baby influences the other, and to my family as a whole, to every single chapter.

My whole family has been such a great support, and they're the ones who have kept me grounded and allowed me to be who I am today.

I have really fond memories of Texas. By the time I was eight, we started to go back to Chile very regularly, and many family members came to visit us because we couldn't go visit them.