Growing up and seeing Shawn Johnson, for her to call me on the phone, I think my inner child was freaking out!

Coming into 'Dancing With the Stars,' I thought it would be a lot easier.

I am extremely close to my grandma. Growing up, she would always do my hair; she was always the one who would make me chocolate milk or rice when I came home.

Growing up, there wasn't an exact Hispanic role model that I had. I didn't realize how big a difference I was making, going to the Olympics and being Hispanic, until I would be in an autograph session, and parents would come up to me and say, 'You know, our family is so proud of you, you're really doing Hispanics proud.'

The baby boomers are getting older, and will stay older for longer. And they will run right into the dementia firing range. How will a society cope? Especially a society that can't so readily rely on those stable family relationships that traditionally provided the backbone of care?

No Ohio family should be forced to go hungry during the holidays or any time.

I'm getting asked a lot, 'You don't have kids, so how do you know how to act like a mother?' I know nothing could compare, and I haven't had that experience, but when my niece was born, I felt like I would jump in front of a car and die for this little person I didn't even know yet.

I grew up doing stage work as a child and as a teenager, so the stage is my home where I feel most comfortable.