The least likely of military leaders, Joan of Arc changed the course of the Hundred Years' War and of history.

For years, the place I really lived - the world I watched, the one I thought and wrote about - was 15th-century France.

I have at last admitted that not only was I angry with my mother, but, in fact, I wanted to destroy her as a child. And I was so concerned to be a woman who was different from my mother that I had this vast architecture of rules.

I was the good girl who never needed disciplining, who made straight A's. I applied and was accepted to Stanford University.

My brother and I have converted to Christianity, and my other brother and sister are still Sikh. So for me, it's not something that I ever want to be judgmental on. I know my parents are two people of a very strong faith. I respect all that they've done in raising their four kids and in the opportunities that they've given us.

I want to be a lawyer, a dancer, an actress, a mother, a wife, a children's author, a distance runner, a poet, a pianist, a pet store owner, an astronaut, an environmental and humanitarian activist, a psychiatrist, a ballet teacher, and the first woman president.

It's true, I had an extremely delicious life, but that was my life at home, and perhaps because I was only a child, or for whatever reasons, I found the company of others, especially other boys, quite terrifying and upsetting.

There's something really liberating standing in front of an audience and playing live. It's a very communal experience, because we're giving a lot from the stage, but the crowd is giving a lot back to us, and it ends up feeling like family by the end of the show.