I realized eventually that when I ran out of places to stay and found myself on the D train and in Central Park, I was actually homeless.

As well as being blind, Ma turned out to have the same mental illness that her mother had had. Between 1986 and 1990, she suffered six schizophrenic bouts, each requiring her to be institutionalised for up to three months.

People are surprised by the poverty and think that I wasn't cared for. But that wasn't the case - I was deeply loved.

I think there is something to be said for what you can do when you don't know what you aren't supposed to be able to do.

I loved seeing my mom put her own twist on years-old family recipes and also create new dishes. This made me develop a passion for cooking at a young age and would eventually inspire me to prepare meals and host wonderful family dinners.

I prefer Los Angeles just because I live there and my family's there. But I think New York is just kind of the center of the world.

I think I'm funny because my family, my siblings were funny.

The steady expansion of welfare programs can be taken as a measure of the steady disintegration of the Negro family structure over the past generation in the United States.