[applause] >> next, i would call -- mark connors, and solomon brown. >> hi. so i work for tenderloin housing clinic, and am not a resident of san francisco. i was born and raised here but can't afford to live here wit hthh the budget cuts. i went from paying no medical to $250 for medical. i live in oakland. i don't like oakland. sorry. i don't. it is just a lot of crime. i have been going through a lot. i have to take her out of school. parents with guns, all kinds of stuff. she can't go to school here. i live out here. i pay for them to go to school here. a mix-up, in between. us getting raises would help, and i could come back to my native. thank you. [applause] >> i am mark conners from treasure island, secretary for the good neighbors -- and i wanted to say what the young man said earlier. we have a lot of youth, and fund the care center for the independent youth. sometimes the youth get in trouble and we need reseources for the island. from time to time, we have crime waves. they need more local services and support on the island. we don't have a grocer

solomon. >> reporter: four wives and 17 kids. no wonder he has trouble keeping track. as season three begins, the browns adjusting to sin city having thread utah because of the threat of prosecution. >> how have people reacted in nevada? >> i had a friend who was a very conservative person, and he said to me, you have a stripper living next to you, i don't care if a guy has four wives. >> i don't think he should say absolutely no, because when you say absolutely no, you're going to get it. >> you say no? >> no way. what we have is so perfect and so new. >> talk to us in ten years. >> nobody wants to be there. >> reporter: at the same time, the most mundane things can become fraught in this family because of the sheer numbers involved. plural wives inefitably multiply for the opportunity for hurt feelings. >> this year, i spent new year's eve alone. and that was so sad. >> i invited you over. >> i know, i know. >> where were you? >> i was home. >> no, no, i'm sorry. >> reporter: somehow, they seem to sort through it. that's partly what makes "sister wives" riveting to watch. >> i don't know what i expect

brian brown, president of the national organization for marriage and mark solomon the national campaignector of freedom to mary. thank you for your time today. >> thanks for having me. >> shannon: there is a state statute. why does north carolina need a constitutional amendment? >> as we saw in iowa it doesn't matter if a state is conservative or not and people support marriage as the union of a man and a woman. if unelected judges decide they will overturn the statute they have done this. it is necessary that the people of north carolina have the chance to vote so that judges don't force a redefinition of marriage upon them. >> shannon: mark, what are your concerns with this particular amendment. isn't it about letting the people of each individual state decide. >> there are two fundamental concerns. number one putting this in the constitution. about why marriage matters. and also super importantly this amendment isn't just about marriage. it takes away civil unions and domestic partnerships and the right for kids of lesbian moms have to health coverage. the golden rule that i was taug

. >> brown: in fact, when morrison won the nobel prize, she was best known for writing about african-american women in books such as "sula" and "song of solomon and her most famous novel still, "beloved", winner of the pulitzer in 1988. it was based on a true story of a woman who killed her young child rather than have her returned to slavery. more recent novels include "paradise," "love," and "a mercy." i'm curious about what moves you to want to write a story. i saw where you recently told students at oberlin college that people say to "write what you know," you know, that classic line. but you said to them, "no one wants to read that because you don't know anything." >> ( laughs ) i said, "i'm not interested in your girlfriends and your grandmother. you don't know anything. write about something you've never, ever thought about before." and of course, i'm right and wrong. i mean, people write great books about what they know. but i was trying to jolt them into some other area. but for me, it's not quite that. i always have questions that i can't answer by just thinking about it. what was it really like? how did she actually kill those chil