“I don't come from money or an educated family background or any sort of supportive family life, so all of my choices are made on my own.” MadeChoicesMy OwnBackgroundsEducatedSupportiveFamily LifeFamily BackgroundSupportive Family Author:Cat Power
“I am very pleased to be involved with the Daniel Pearl Music Days committee because its message resonates with me on a very personal level, My own career is an example of the universal power of music, especially the power of Hip Hop, to bring people of different backgrounds together for a common purpose. I hope that my commitment to the Daniel Pearl Music Days committee will encourage all music lovers - both amateurs and professionals - to get involved with the Music Days performance network and contribute to the 'Harmony For Humanity' e-Stage.” PeopleDifferentTogetherPurposeHumanityMy OwnLevelsCommonCareersStageExampleLoversInvolvedMessagesCommitmentPerformancesUniversalHarmonyHip HopBackgroundsHipsHopsCommitteesPearlsGet InvolvedPower Of MusicDifferent BackgroundsMusic LoverCommon Purpose Author:Russell Simmons
“I view the major features of my own odyssey as a set of mostly fortunate contingencies. I was not destined by inherited mentality or family tradition to become a paleontologist. I can locate no tradition for scientific or intellectual careers anywhere on either side of my eastern European Jewish background. I view my serious and lifelong commitment to baseball in entirely the same manner: purely as a contingent circumstance of numerous, albeit not entirely capricious, accidents.” I CanSidesMy OwnViewsCareersSeriousCircumstancesMajorsIntellectualCommitmentTraditionBaseballAccidentsBackgroundsFortunateFeaturesMentalityEasternDestinedLifelongCapriciousOdysseyContingencyFamily Tradition Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“My own musical background is based in the blues, and in classical composition. I grew up listening to Muddy Waters, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Beethoven and Bach.” WaterMy OwnListeningGrewGrew UpMusicalMilesBackgroundsCompositionRamaMuddyColtrane Author:Frederick Lenz
“Having spent a substantial part of my career parodying religious figures from my own Christian background, I am aghast at the notion that it could, in effect, be made illegal to imply ridicule of a religion or to lampoon religious figures.” MadeChristianReligiousMy OwnCareersAtheismEffectsFiguresNotionPositive AtheismBackgroundsIllegalRidiculeAghast Author:Rowan Atkinson
“I entered the literary world, really, from outside. My entire background has been in sciences; I was a biology major in college, then went to medical school. I've never had any formal training in writing. So what I know about writing, I know from my own instincts, and whatever the narrative voice is in my own head.” KnowsWorldWritingHas BeensSchoolVoiceMy OwnCollegeMajorsTrainingInstinctMedicalBackgroundsNarrativeBiologyFormalMedical SchoolNarrative Voice Author:Khaled Hosseini
“I know in my own marriage I stayed in it to provide my son with what I thought was a stable background and to give him what I thought was the family life a child should have with two parents. But that isnt always the best way, and it took me taking my son to therapy after the divorce to really see it.” KnowsWayGivingShouldChildrenTwoParentMy OwnSonShould HaveDivorceBackgroundsBest WayTherapyMy SonStableFamily Life Author:Regina King
“When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.” PeopleThinkingMy OwnCasesAccountsGenderBackgroundsDiscriminationEthnic Background Author:Samuel Alito
“I think great businessmen are more likely made than born. I don't know if it's from your upbringing, your parental background, the struggles you go through. In my own particular situation, I left school at 15 and I was struggling to survive in the jungle and that was a great education. So I think just getting out there, hands on, learning to survive teaches you a lot.” IfsThinkingKnowsMadeHandsSchoolLeftBornMy OwnSituationTeachStruggleParticularBackgroundsBusinessmanJungleUpbringingParentalGreat EducationGreat BusinessGreat BusinessmanStruggling To Survive Author:Richard Branson
“My own military background is wholly un-distinguished. I was a sergeant.” My OwnMilitaryBackgroundsDistinguishedSergeants Author:W. E. B. Griffin
“I play music - I write my own music, but I play music, just background music really, and just let it happen.” WritingPlayHappensMy OwnBackgroundsBackground Music Author:Anthony Hopkins
“It was really hard coming to terms with the Nazi history. Then in my twenties I was traveling to Germany. There was a lot of poetry activity and some of my first readings abroad and trying to relate with people my own age there and what they were discovering and learning had to examine in terms of their backgrounds. Then so many of my friends had family who had either perished in the holocaust or survived in the holocaust. It was very palpable.” PeopleTryingFirstsHardAgeReadingTermMy OwnActivityMy FriendsTwentiesBackgroundsRelateGermanyHolocaustDiscoveringSurvivedNazi Author:Anne Waldman
“Shook is the musical universe I created. I come from a classical and jazz background and my father is a jazz pianist, so my world bears largely the marks of this influence. As a sort of gateway, I started composing my own music on the computer at the age of 13. Before Shook, I had not yet discovered the kind of music I wanted to dedicate myself to, so I did a little of everything.” WorldKindLittlesAgeWantedUniverseFatherMy OwnInfluenceBearsComputerMarkJazzMusicalBackgroundsComposingPianistGateways Author:Shook
“I have my own method [of acting]. I come from, I've interrogated people; I come from an undercover background, so it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.” PeopleHardMy OwnActingTeachDogMethodTricksBackgroundsOld DogUndercover Author:Mekhi Phifer
“I have my own charity organization in Berlin called Ruckenwind, which supports kids from - ya - not ideal backgrounds.” KidsMy OwnSupportIdealsOrganizationCharityBackgroundsBerlin Author:Paul van Dyk