My mom was very much the product of a very paternalistic, deep-southern culture, but also a repressed feminist. Her way of being defiant was to raise us to be rebellious ourselves - basically, the opposite of who she had to be in her own life.

Experience is a legitimate issue when John McCain raises it about Obama, and it's also legitimate for us to raise it about Palin.

I adored my mom. I thought she was the best. I loved her very much.

I basically became a cheerleader because I had a very strict mom. That was my way of being a bad girl.

My cousin in Louisiana started a small company with a little savings, renovating houses. A single mom, she saved enough to buy a home and provide child care for her son. When the economy went belly up, so did her company. She was forced to sell her home and move in with her parents.

I just got sick of not being able to raise money for a movie - that's what happens, so I just made my own.