Quotes about "Youth & Coming of Age"

Sometimes you have to see the thing to know that it exists. Maybe there's a queer person in a town, but they don't feel comfortable or safe coming out, frankly, and the only representation they feel that they have or connection they have is on television or in a movie, and that's really powerful. ”

While growing up, I always had to depend on foreign authors for page-turners. I think of myself as a commercial writer, and my job is simple to entertain you. ”

One of my favorites is one called 'Rory's Radio' that I wrote about my brother Jeff's best friend growing up - his name was Rory Dunigan. I dedicated my first record to my brother, who got killed in a car accident in 1999, and I really didn't have any songs on the first album about him, nothing on a personal note. ”

Anything that's outside the standard of the average black male is looked down upon. For me, I wasn't raised playing sports. I was artistic, so that was looked down upon by people in my church, and I was teased for that growing up in school, so it goes both ways. ”

There are so many stereotypes of how you have to be as a black man, growing up in the community as a man. ”

I think we've all been in the middle of doing something we cared about, when someone coming in the room and saying 'hello' was annoying. I personally can understand that, as someone who tries to create. ”

I'm continually trying to make choices that put me against my own comfort zone. As long as you're uncomfortable, it means you're growing. ”

When I was growing up, I used to watch 'Power Rangers' and 'Ninja Turtles.' It seemed like every movie had someone doing martial arts in it, so I would go around punching and kicking trees. ”

I remember growing up, having sports to go to, having recess, those were the things I looked forward to. Yes, I'm an athlete, but I had buddies who weren't, and they looked forward to it, too. ”

Steven Tyler is awesome. He is so humble. He's really sweet and coming from him and his career, it's amazing. ”