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I think it's an important thing, if you grew up in a neighbourhood that's different from the rest of the world, to remember what was different about your place and keep that in your heart, because that's what made you.

A lot of kids spent more time out of school than in, but I always loved school and thought it was my way out of Cleveland, and out of poverty.

Just as important as our society as a whole are our small communities: our neighborhoods, workplaces and schools.

At one point, my house was a school for autistic children. I opened up my doors to about 30 kids and their families at the time. I was turning into Mary Poppins because I had to do something for these kids who have nowhere to go. So my house was the school for two years.

I resent the fact that people in places like Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco believe that they should be able to tell us how to live our lives, operate our businesses, and what to do with the land that we love and cherish.

I think what's great about your community is that it's different than anyone else's. Look around. What do you want to change? What needs to be built, or what's valuable and needs to be maintained? Is it the people? Local animals? Your parks or gardens? Hospitals?

I grew up in a suburb of Ohio, in a small town, and I resonated with that small-town feeling where everybody knows your business.

I thought I needed to go to one of the top five schools in the nation and never even thought 'What's important to me?' Instead of figuring out what was important, which was obviously being near home, I kind of just went with what everyone thought I should do.