If my career detour from special education to singing has done one thing, it has afforded me the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.

I got rid of my glasses and they changed my hair. That's really all they did. They went shopping for me, so the clothes are different too. It wasn't like Extreme Makeover where I got a nose job or anything.

I'd never take a job where I had to do something that I didn't want to do.

I'd hate to have a job where I had to be rude to people.

When I die there may be a paragraph or two in the newspapers. My name will linger in the British Museum Reading Room catalogue for a space at the head of a long list of books for which no one will ever ask.

My teacher, Professor Smil Sommarin, was a fine pedagogue, a very generous person, and a great admirer of Kurt Wicksell.

A surprising number of people - including many students of literature - will tell you they haven't really lived in a book since they were children. Sadly, being taught literature often destroys the life of the books.

My dad, who was a teacher, used to tell me that a teacher's goal should be for every one of their students to get an A. If that's your goal every day - to make every student or player learn - then it doesn't matter if you won last year or didn't win. When next year's team shows up, I try to help every player become as good as they can be.