and i was fascinated with it. i enjoyed the show, but i was only thinking about that, i must say. after that, there was the corset of my grandmother, and at that i have to do it, but it will be a dress. i did attend different dresses. long, shorter, even like a gym suit. i didn't like my souvenir of the one of my grandmother. and it was -- i did it like my souvenir of my grandmother. and it was a lace up. there was a party at the palace, which was a club. she wanted to wear that. she cannot drink because i did it truly like a real corset. laced up all along the back. no drink, because to go to the toilet, what can she do? she could not put it back. [laughter] she would be in little to nothing. [laughter] >> the title of this exhibition is the idea of going from the street to fashion. from looking at things that are in the street and turning them into fashion or is it the other way round. do you in fact look at the street and see immediately things that are already fashion? are you inspired by that? >> i should say that i have, to be honest, i did not see very clearly by what i was

wish i. was. good. i am. i believe the phone when i walk down the street i'm not at all scared by the loads of people staring at me and i recently came to realize that st petersburg is a big village by sandia. in the hand of god and sometimes i think that even everyone knows. that up i understand that i stand out from the crowd but i also like to emphasize my individuality with beautiful and fashionable clothes in a idea that if a person has got style and intelligence then he or she is just like any other person in the world will put up give it. to. you or you get to the heart of the land was changed radically ever since i got involved in the entertainment business i realize that i'm not married to a man but to the stage and it's very scary to tell the truth it's just. i don't even have the right to be sad this is the third tattoo i've got i have more than fifteen all together but this time too tells the story of the relationship that i have with my boyfriend i'm the one wearing the glasses sometimes i do tha

i was because i was. the thank.

i will tell you up front it was a book i thought that may be they wouldn't publish. my very first book was women of the silk. i knew that i was writing about something that was a little bit different because i didn't know about the women of the silk until i wanted to write something telling their story much the second book is the test book for us writers you hear that a lot where the publishers are wondering if the author has a second book. everybody here i feel sitting here all of you have one book in you. whether it's a family story or your story whether it's ancestors whether it's your history you want to write about. but it's the second one that's hard. i felt that when i turnod the computer and thought, now i have to write book number 2. i had in mind that i wanted to write something very different from women of the silk that was strictly about the feminist chinese women during the turn of the century and i wanted to write about my japanese culter. i didn't have the story or the culture unfortunately because i was born in san francisco, half chinese and half japa

it was a change. when i went to my company, it was a moment where there were more shops and boutiques. so we went with ermez, and it became something that was very funny. we -- one moment i did not even have a collection, which was not scheduled at all. it was not about a contract. there was like 45 persons in my company. so i should do the collection. i thought it was an adventure. i love that adventure. at the beginning of was supposed to be -- [unintelligible] of the established house. for me, it was kind of a challenge. and i loved the idea. i love to do it. also my training, my training was doing this. i do not have my gaultier touch at that time. so then it was like to make jean paul gaultier for ermez. no, sorry, to make ermez through the eyes of jean paul gaultier. i love that. then there was a death. it was seven years after our collaboration. i think it was good to go in, because my life was not with ermez. it was for my own company. so we changed. we pushed. spanish rudes, perfume routes. sounds v

i was writing about my family and my parents and there were many times when i felt that i was writing things that i shouldn't. but then i felt that if i was going to write a memoir, i needed to be completely honest with the story. to turn my cane and my fear into my strengths instead of them being my weaknesses. >> host: did you write this book originally in english or spanish? >> guest: i always write in english first. unfortunately when i came to this country, i became so obsessed with english that i neglected my native tongue. and for many years all i did was eat and breathe english. to the point that when i got to college, i was a writing tutor and i was tutoring native english speakers and teaching them how to write better english. but when i was in college, i got exposed to spanish speakers again, and that is when i took those classes and i said i am going to brick -- reclaim my native tongue. it's so natural to me that i don't have to think about the language with a vocabulary and writing. but the first book, i had to think of the language in the dictionary every minute. and th

at me because i was determined to give birth. well you're with doctors and i told her that from a medical point of view and ninety two centimeter told woman pregnant with a normal sized baby is dangerous of course we did not believe that she will be able to give birth to the baby as there would be a miscarriage. it's not us who should be credited for the success or perhaps a higher power we didn't believe in america but we did our best it doesn't befit a doctor to say that it happened with god's help i think we succeeded thanks to the vitality of this woman who was. a percentage. do much. for our looks good. because i was worried when she told me she was pregnant. i thought i might go crazy. you know more of the i gave birth to this child and the doctor told me later your next child will be normal but maria was born the same move there is never being short people on my side of a family maybe it was a great grandfather or something you know in our family either. through it certainly here in the u.k. i asked them. where they live do

i thought he was tired. thought. 40-something years old pitching 16 innings you don't see that any more. you see seven innings maybe eight innings but 16? no. no. >> gavin: would you hit 20 home runs a year if you weren't in candlestick? >> i would have hit more. i would have hit maybe 50. >> gavin: over the course of your career you would have hit at least 50 more home runs. >> no, i probably would have hit 20--i had 20 on the road and 20 at candlestick. i should have hit 30 or 40 at candlestick and 20 on the road, but i hit more home runs on the road than candlestick. sometimes i hit 25. sometimes i hit 18 at candlestick. then i learned how to let the wind take it and smooth it out to right. so i was okay. >> gavin: you honestly would gauge your hitting style based on where the wind wag blowing? >> oh, yeah. when i would go to the ballpark i would look at the flag. if the flag was flowing this way, i knew i had to hit it straight away and the wind would take it right center. if it was not blowing then i ha

but i was in a daze. and i went back to work like nothing had ever happened but it did it devastate i didn't know where to turn to talk to. how to tell family. i was lost. it was my mother father and we were any kitchen. and my husband says oh hi how are you what's going on and they say nothing you know i had him with me there as well when it's all me you know and he's you guys to this is what i'm involved with in a mother was cooking we came in and he said he wanted to talk and he came in and my husband came in. he told us he had something to say to us and i told that i was a positive this is who i'm in a relationship with my mother started crying and my father being the man he is ask me so what does me your dresses and they bring you little he said out that they said mother was going out and just life floored me that started the whole argument and i just walked out you know that put a big strain on the relationship. is different it's better than it was there isn't a whole lot of conversation or close to

the one i had never seen was my own. first one i saw was my own, and it was good. >> fantastic. >> people say, how did you stand it? i liked everybody that was there, and it was all really smart humor. how do you take that personal? you can't. you can't take it personal. >> speaking of movies, have you seen many movies? >> not many. >> do you ever buy them? >> i was in atlanta and i saw safe house a couple months ago. i love going to the movies. now you can order like a steak and a beer. it's amazing. >> how do people who go to a movie theater and see you next to them, how do they react? >> they wait until the film's over. they're polite. >> are you a movie star at heart? >> i'm a baseball player at heart. seriously, in my fantasies i'm a baseball player. >> really? >> oh, yeah. the cincinnati reds. >> that would have been the dream for you? >> yeah. but i'm not -- but i wouldn't still be playing right now unless i was jamie moyer. i don't know that i had the skills to play professionally. i probably would have been ridin

failed to get married and have children of my own i was going to adopt a child sounds i would be someone to bring me a couple for turn when i moaned. you know well try money resound can you do it by now you can then money will ride with you. i think and then we go. eat right here and you can be careful you may fall off us. flagellum and it will leave at first i had some doubts so you know i thought that it wouldn't work for me or i might grow weary of it or that i would feel ashamed. for them you know but after i came here and got snow or better and met her family i felt right at home. there at first it was somewhat unusual when we went outside and saw the surprise on people's faces as she was so short and i was so tall. and profound you know used to the fact that people always look at a new book or you hear these ones that take those ones when i was twenty weeks pregnant doctors told me i wouldn't be able to give birth to this child and they asked me if i could imagine what size my belly was going to be they told me i had to get an abortion i was

and i was... i was shocked. i--it was--i felt like my head exploded. i mean, i don't think if he had told me he was an alien i could've been more surprised. he said that the firm had liabilities of $50 billion. it never occurred to me that his business had anything like that kind of-- anything like that under management. it was--it was shocking. >> your mother, what was her reaction? >> she looked-- she looked shocked. she asked, "what's a ponzi scheme?" was her first question. she didn't even understand that. i think it was me who answered and said that it means that it's all fake. that dad's--you know, is-- he's not been doing what he says he's been doing. and he followed that up and said, "yes, i've been lying to all of you all of these years. i've been lying to everybody. i've been lying to myself," he said. >> and your brother? >> my brother was trembling with rage. he was absolutely furious. mark was the first one to stand up and said, you know, "i'm out of here." and he stormed out of the room. and i immediately followed him and walked out. >> y

[laughter] and i was for it. i thought it was a good idea. [laughter] the restaurant polt is unusual. you don't find many restaurants pro privateers writing poetry. they are good with motto. remember the motto of burger king. and in owens burrow, kentucky where most of you probably know, it's the barbecue capital of the world. one restaurant has a sign that says mary had a little lamb, you have some too. [laughter] there are many occupational groups genere of proto. the only one i know for sure is cowboy poetry is odd. they are thought to be laconic and suspicious of books. but they're probably more cowboy poets now than can cowboys. i met one of them, baxter black, a famous cowboy poet. he wrote a book called "crouton on a coupee ." i thought what it would be like if other occupational groups had poetry. i mean, william carlos williams was a doctor and a poet. but he didn't write doctor poetry. doctor poetry if it followed the pattern of cowboy poetry. cowboy don't think much about neater. they have about as much use for a meter as they woul

the timing was just so split second. because i knew there was a man under there, i know i yelled, oh, my god. >> inside the store, jim and the other gas station employees hear the impact and laura's cries for help. >> i just heard her yell, oh, my god, he's pinned. >> jim leaps into action, but the scene outside is even more dire than he can imagine. the gas pump bursts into flames with alex trapped underneath. the fire fueled by leaking gasoline. >> and when the fire hit, knowing there was a man there, the first thing i thought of was getting that fire extinguisher. >> and when i came out, laura was headed back toward the door with the fire extinguisher and handed it off to me. the fire was starting to come up so i jumped on top of the fire and tried to knock it down the best i could to get the guy out from underneath it. i used up almost all the fire extinguisher and then put it underneath the pump and blasted him with it. >> following emergency procedure, another sales clerk, kelly chapman, shuts down the power and as captured

i guess. it was the only white house of the day the radio guy unplugged element from a quick thing i want you to watch closely to go because you never seen anything like that i'm calling. this a. blemish and free accreditation free in-store charges free. range month three risk free studio type free. mostly broadcast plug in video for your media projects and free media oh god r t dot com. in. iraq. don't come on my. plate. me leave.

i guess it was, "you're fired." "no, i quit." it was really more "i quit," but i certainly couldn't accept that. i might still be there if i had, but i couldn't accept it at the time. c-span: you worked at cnn for a while? >> guest: six months. c-span: what did you do? >> guest: business news. c-span: why did you leave? >> guest: hated it. c-span: why? >> guest: it wasn't my cup of tea, and i didn't like my boss. c-span: lou dobbs. >> guest: yes. c-span: why? >> guest: i hate to paste him publicly, but i had enough of screamers in my life-time. i didn't want to be screamed at by people anymore. c-span: who are some of the other screamers in television? >> guest: oh, there's lots of screamers in television. it's an abysmal business. you know that, brian. it's actually a great business, but there's a high level of screaming and freneticism and chaos and panic and envy and settling scores. the stakes are high. you're driven by greed and ego. lots of money, lots of ego fed to be on the air, influencing the public. these things are the

i. was. i was i was i am you. can say i can't slave. for a good fire ok let's just be honest here for a moment for some people this is and justifiably so a battle about a police state since one nine hundred eighty the number of people in prison per capita in the united states has more than tripled we now in prison a greater percentage of our population than any other country in the world in fact the united states is only five percent of the world's population has twenty five percent of the world's prison population in the u.s. one in every one hundred six white males aged eighteen or over is incarcerated for hispanic males that number is one in thirty six and one in fifteen black males over eighteen is currently in jail. between one thousand nine hundred seven and two thousand and seven state spending on incarceration related expenses increased one hundred twenty seven percent while spending on higher education during that same period rose a mere twenty percent is it that much more profitable jail or population then it is to educate and

i don't think it was who i wanted to be. again, things got ahead of themselves and you start playing catchup. >> i thought a lot of it was very entertaining, to be honest with you. i thought some of the stuff on the tour, i began to think, i don't want charlie doing this anymore. >> i thought this in show two. >> you were getting annihilated. the whole winning thing -- >> it was brutal. i was not winning at all. i think what a lot of people don't realize, i was -- you know, when they kept my back end and fired me, i didn't have any money left. so i was using the tour to actually pay child support and mortgages and stuff like that. you know? so i'm grateful for that. >> did you have a moment of cutharc cath catharsis, a moment where you said, i'm not doing this anymore or not at the level i have been doing it? >> opening night. no, that was bad, by the way. detroit was bad. >> i saw footage of that. >> daunting stuff. yeah, it was about the adrenaline and the -- the sort of the forward momentum of it kind of lost its luster a

and then i was really screwed. so that is when i said to lou, okay, okay, i will try anything just to get rid of this depression. because it was, it's different than oh, i don't feel good today. it's different than feeling sad. it's different than feeling blue. it's really like a friend of mine says, it's the world with 20/20 vision. you really see yourself in trouble. so i took it, 10 milligrams. and one of those selected serotonin inhibitiers. and oh my gosh, within about 90 days, i realized oh, this is how other people who i admire must feel. because i would-- whenever i would get up set i wanted to make sure the world was up set with me. and the smart people didn't fall for that. and when i started that medication i realized oh, you don't have to be that way. there's another way to live. and i think for me it's the right way. i don't know what causes it. some people get it in bigger amounts. some people get it in lesser amounts. i done know whether it's trauma or the luck of the draw but it certainly helped me.

and every time i saw the light i was like -- [ laughter ] so i did like -- god knows what i was talkingut. people were laughing because they felt bad for me. and i got off and they asked me to come back and screamed at me. i think you are an idiot. i thought you were encouraging me. >> jon: that may be my first comedy night story. man would i have preferred that happening to me. i was riding in riding in the bd it was three seconds and it was like that guy got trampled look tax i'm so glad you came by. the movie looks hilarious. come see us again. >> i will.

i was in green bay and i started to talk about father greg and no one had any idea what i was talking about. i have known greg boyle for 25 years. i worked with him when he routinely received death threats. people believed he was trying to help gang members. the lapd called him a hug- hugger. i will repeat everything that they have said, not because of sore afraid of using profanity but because it was a different lapd. it was rumored that the mexican mafia was allowed to meet in his church and that he held guns for gang members. and he was helping gang members across the border. i am certain he knew where the body of jimmy hoffa was buried when you got done listening to the rumors. now, the lapd uses home with industries as an integral part of its anti-gang efforts. not all of them, not 9000 members, but i can tell you this, homeboy industries have their annual benefit to honor people in the community as well as former gang members, the person they honored was chief charlie of the lapd. unless you think that was an anomaly, the year before they honored the sheriff. there is an allianc

. >> it was not a political choice. i it was a story-telling choice, where just -- >> bob cochran trying to create stakes. this guy has to stop it. ment the assassination would be a national catastrophe. and the first black american in the white house. that's where the choice came from, the choice for dramatic stakes. >> last question. >> it's been great -- [inaudible] >> i wanted to circle back to what you referenced about the saudi ambassador saying something that around the world -- from in africa and thailand and singapore and egypt are viewing americans through television, and i wonder -- you've already discussed what you think -- what control do you have about the shows going there and being translated or maybe not the dialogue that you intended? i'm just speculating. how does that work? because, according to him, this has a huge influence in how we're viewed as americans. >> right. >> well, what -- it's actually a distribution model. the question is, what control do we as artists have? terms of distribution? >> do

i was in love with. ator: "everyone has something lovely he has wanted very much and wasn't able to have," said robbins. although he had relationships with both men and women throughout his life, he never married or had children. he made a psychosexual ballet, "facsimile," that he said, "came out of a period when i was involved with two other people." but robbins could also have a light touch with autobiographical material. ♪ my mother didn't raise her boy ♪ ♪ to be a dancer ♪ ♪ that was not her mission ♪ ♪ my father hoped i'd be an engineer ♪ ♪ or a financier ♪ ♪ that's what he was wishin' ♪ ♪ so i'm afraid that they could never love me ♪ ♪ with my arms above me in the fifth position ♪ ♪ but i'm a guy who's gotta dance ♪ narrator: "look, ma, i'm dancin'!" -- a musical robbins conceived, choreographed, and co-directed with george abbott, was autobiography repeated as farce, the story of an ambitious young choreographer, a touring ballet company and its patroness, who cast herself in swan lake. [ laughter

i don't feel like i was. e's not totally innocent, but she's not what they're trying to make her out to be. >> when sara was indicted sitting on house arrest, the court had cut her off from cody, banned from seeing him, calling him or texting him. that, she says, was the worst part of all. >> it was very hard to not be able to contact him. i mean, if you can imagine what it's like to not be able to see your best friend for a long time, six months, i struggled with it daily. i cried daily. >> what was it like being apart? >> the hardest six months i had to deal with ever. and i wish that i could have been on house arrest and she didn't. >> but nobody said anything about twitter. >> i follow you on twitter. here are some of the things you've tweeted. i know soon we'll be together and i can't wait till then. i can conquer the world with one hand as long as you're holding the other. were those messages for cody. >> we used twitter as communication when we were not allowed to communicate. i could tweet it and if he

i was 38 years old, die hard bachelor and all i could think was getting that school built. i went to a fund raise er the fair month in san francisco where my hero was speaking. it was getting late and people were nodding off and he was going on and on about the queens coronation so i went to the back to get some fresh air and there was a beautiful woman in the back wearing a dress and black combat books and her name was, tara bishop and six months later got married and now we're living happily ever after in montana. [applause] i also a guy name keesh ran a company called laser image and he taught me how to use a computer and tara after watching me for several days one day, i was writing the fund raising letters and i learned on the computer but she said let me show you something. it's called cut and paste. so, with her now we could write hundreds of fund raising letters and in pakistan i learned to use a local laptop. slate board there. the whole village participated in the building school and it was a joy ous time. this is 18 miles - on that bridge - i didn't mention it but

when i saw all of that, i was a part of it. when i watched a movie is going through high school, and i am struggling with try to figure out how to talk to a girl, and i see movies that explore that same subject, i was learning, you know? i was learning that we all suffer through those things. stories help you get through. of course, there are more profound stories. there are a big, spiritual stories. what is like to live in the south during the depression. what it is like being an okie, trying to get out to california. those things can what in your view of the world. i knew a lot more about europe from films until i was aged 25 or 30. i did not get over there. i did not get a chance to see it, but i learned about cultures and people and places far from me. it is all i wanted to do. i wanted to be an actor for a while, but i always wanted to be a part of this. tavis: if you are. >> and i am, and very proud to be. tavis: an academy award nominated. the movie is "life of pi." david magee, good to have you on the program. that is ou

the first time i was forced to confront acting was something i had more than a passing desire to do. >> rose: there was satisfaction, psychic income and all of that. >> exactly. >> and so what was the first thing you did? short films? >> i made short films, i made web shows, i made two different webster irs, which was the first thing that made me think of writing in an episodic way, and a short feature called creative short fiction and i met so many people. >> a festival down in austin. >> exactly, where that has been very supportive of me and the first season of girls all premiered. >> rose: right. >> so and then i made the movie tiny furniture and that was sort of the thing that broke everything opened and i had created nonfiction, it was funny, tiny furnish imhur is kind of like the breakthrough because it is what got me, gave me the chance. >> rose: paid attention? >> gave me a chance to work, but when i created nonfiction gave me access to the collaborators and that there was an actual sense of a chance for me, and it was a short feature no one will watch. >> rose: are yo

it was the first one i saw, was my own. and i thought it was pretty-g right? fantastic. >> and people said how did you stand -- >> did any of it hurt you? >> no. i liked everybody that was there. and it was all really smart humor. how do you take that personally you? can't. you can't take it personally. >> it's been a big year for movies. have you seen many movies? >> not too many. >> do you ever actually go and buy a ticket and -- >> oh, yeah. i was in atlanta and i went and saw "safe house." a few months ago. was that a year ago? i love going to the movies. now i even go to a steak and a beer. it's amazing. >> how about when people go to a movie theater and find you next to them? how do they react? >> they usually wait till the film's over to talk know, which is polite. i guess they figure i'm a fan like anybody else, you know. >> are you in your heart a movie star, do you think? >> i'm a baseball player in my heart. seriously. i'm a baseball -- in my fantasies i'm a baseball star. >> is that what you really -- >> oh, yeah. >> who's your team? >> the cincinn

and i was gone. and i started -- >> oh really. >> because we don't talk, we don't talk actor talk to each other, you know, he's a lovely man. >> but he captured you, didn't he. >> yes, he did. >> why did it take you so long? >> to direct? >> to direct? >> you know, i did direct a thing in 77 called straight time. >> but you fired yourself. >> yes, i did. and i made a mistake. >> in firing yourself or hiring yourself. >> maybe both. >> and i had cast it, i cast the crew and actors. i worked with the writer who was an ex-convict. had done a lot of research, loved the project. it was about recidivism. and i done know what happened. i think i mean you develop projects but when you are, you know, a celebrity you get, you know, first choice of scripts, usually. so they would be-- sorry they would be coming in and then would you put what you were working on aside and do the job, then come back and try to remember where you were. and i think that you think you've got all the time in the world. and that at a c

growing up in north carolina, the stuff i was listening to, the things i was hearing, it was all aboutlack music, about soul music. when i first started playing with an old friend of mine from new york, who i used to know from somers on cape cod in massachusetts, he and i when we first got together, he was all about blues. he gave me an entire education, really, along witmy brother, allen, who was a blues singer until he died. that and the sort of brazilian, afro-cuban, caribbean connection, those were really my main sources. that is what i was interested in listening to, and that is what i wanted to sound like. there has been this thing about white people stealing black music. i think there is no doubt about that, but there are also white musicians, eric clapton, ry cooder, phil collins, you mentioned, many, many players who were just brought up on it and loved black music. they just want to sound that way. when i sit down and think, that is what comes out. that is what i am trying to emulate. marvin gaye, sam cooke, huge giants and people who are listen to, just cut the debt linked a

i was alone the first five years, and then i came back when i was 13. a few years later, it did get better. it loosened up. 1972, when nixon visited china, diplomacy, it got further better. the first few years were probably the worst. tavis: i want to fast forward because you end up doing some more to expose another atrocity in the people's republic of china, as relates specifically to the one child policy. so take me from the camp where you were held during the cultural revolution. advance me a few years to your working on the writings about the one-child policy. >> so the cultural revolution ended in 1976, and then the university in 1977. i went to college in 1978, when my father came back. i did not have any choice of what to study. i wanted to be an astronaut, but i ended up to study chinese literature, because that was an assigned maj. before graduation, i decided to do humanitarian work for my thesis research. i heard that girls were being killed or were having abortions in very late terms due to the one-child policy. the one-child policy is that e

i was born in the chinese hospital; i went to jean parker. at jean parker it was a struggle for me; i realize when i walked in, there are a lot of people that don't really know who i am. bear with me, for other people have heard this and million times. i struggle going to school. i had speech problems; i stuttered. it was really my parents that pushed me, tell me i would be okay. for me to be able to talk to you, and maybe i will stutter but it is a personal achievement for me. my parents are both gone, but they would be proud. if you have seen the king speech, you know what i had to struggle with. (applause) again, i was on the school board for eight years. prior to that i actually work in the community for a long time. served people throughout san francisco i met. i live in district 7 for over 20 years. learn a lot about the schools in the parks there, my two daughters grew up there. it was eye-opening to go knocking on doors. i saw hundreds and hundreds of people who challenged me to deal with the local issues. that is one of the things tha

[laughter] i was getting $100 a poem no matter how long the palm was, so while i had to do to be the highest-paid poet in the country was to write a four line poem, or even better, a two line poem. and so, i did that. anytime i wanted to get that buzz you get for working at the absolute top dollar in your field, i would read it to line poem. for instance come when the former texas senator lloyd bentsen was named secretary of the treasury, i wrote a poem about its relation to special interest groups, which was, the man is known for quote pro quickness. in texas that's how folks do business. [laughter] fifty dollars a line. in the 2000 primaries, when george w. bush is college transcript was leaked to no apparent effect on the campaign, i did a palm that was obliviously on he sails bookmarks not quite as good as quails. [laughter] now the people who my family unfortunately call real poet or grown-up poets, we call them the sanskrit crowd. by week, i mean those members of the international deadline poet's organization. eric two of us. the other member is john lma whose poetry is to appea

so by the time i was there i got -- i was mad. and i had heard that they -- the mess i was doing -- so the poor woman -- i think about it now -- i want sit, and i was on her so she was trembling. but the young man got his loan. [laughter] [cheers and applause] [applause] >> i felt bad about the way i treated her. but... >> and i think it's important to understand that you come from the space where you had been on the receiving end of the discriminatory practices of the usda so when you walked into the usda to become the first director -- black director of rule development in georgia in the president's administration, you had this unique history of having personally experienced the discrimination and having helped both black farmers and white farmers navigate something that was racist, and you have all these stories that prove that again and again and again and again, to the night the book when you submitted your regs anyway all these letters cam from farmers. and one letter of support wrote about a usda loan official who kept a noo

i don't know. certainly it was in retrospect. i wouldn't have done it any different. i was willing to risk it. i'm a woman of a certain age and i thought, well, gosh, i don't want to do it in such a way that i'll drop dead halfway through production and they'll recast. i won't get to do it, you know after all of this. that's one of the reasons i went to a nutritionist and tried to do it healthy. but i found out it doesn't matter, field. it doesn't matter if you eat tons of tons of brown rice and you're eating this enormous amount of calories. it's still fat and, if it was gonna clog in my heart or my brain or wherever, i was gonna be dead, no matter what. tavis: i could be totally off base here, so i'm just asking you. you disabuse me of the notion if i'm wrong about this, but how much of wanting to be in a project like this i don't care if your name is sally field or whoever else in this town. is there a gravitational pull even to want to be in a project like this when you know even before it's done you don't know if it's gonna work or not but you know that, if it does work, it's going to be h

i was a teenager. i was failing school because i had been skipping school. i thought i was in love. i wanted to get married. and i got pregnant. >> when did you live at that time when you got married? -- where did you live at the time and get married? >> a small apartment outside washington d.c. >> what happened with your relationship with your parents? >> my mom. she is the sole reason i am where i am today. i was raised by a single mom. she was devastated. she was a wonderful mother. right. >> yes. she lives with me now and i take care of her. she was wonderful. she stood by me when i got divorced and i moved back home. my mother had very little money. we were poor growing up. she took me and my son back in. what little she had, she shared with us. she helped me raise my son. she helped me get my son in a private school. she made it possible for me to be where i am today. she helped me pay bills with what little she had. my mother has been great. >> what were those early jobs you had to make money? >> i was a secretary, and my mother taught me how to type at home. i worked as a wai