I don't want to live in a world where I could say to my daughter, 'There used to be turtles that swam in the ocean.'
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When I was a child, I wanted to... go into space! To go to Mars. I wanted to explore and explore and explore. I wanted to go to the Lost World in South America - I was heartbroken to discover there were no dinosaurs; I still don't accept it.
I have very fond memories of swimming in Walden Pond when we lived in Boston. You'd swim past a log and see all these turtles sunning themselves. Slightly disturbing if you thought about how many more were swimming around your toes, but also rather wonderful.
'Turtles' was by far my favourite TV show when I was growing up. It would be the show that I would wanna watch more than anything. We'd record it on the big VHS tapes, and I'd watch it before school, after school, on the weekend, wear the costume, have all the weapons.
You are absolutely free to describe me as a turtle or something.
If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up.
I have spent my entire life living in a zoo, which is pretty crazy. Not many kids get to say that, and it took me until I was about three years old to realize that we didn't just come to the zoo every day, that we actually lived here.
I never wanted to be one of those 'Where are they now?' kids.
Now and then, when I grow nostalgic about my ocean childhood - the wauling of gulls and the smell of salt, somebody solicitous will bundle me into a car and drive me to the nearest briny horizon.
I would love to go help baby sea turtles back into the ocean after hatching in Mexico.
Take a walk with a turtle. And behold the world in pause.