I went to school and made good grades and went to college. So I was afforded an opportunity through my parents' hard work that most people don't have.
Every place where I played or managed is special to me because of the memories and the friendships that each afforded me.
I'm here not just as an actress but as a woman, an African-American, a granddaughter of Ellis Island immigrants, a person who could not have afforded college without the help of student loans and as one of millions of volunteers working to re-elect President Obama!
In a weird kind of way, music has afforded me an idealism and perfectionism that I could never attain as me.
The days of the Pentagon Papers debates seem long past, when a sudden transparency yielded insight into fights over war and peace and freedom and security; the transparency afforded by Twitter and Facebook yields insights that extend no further than a lawmaker's boundless narcissism and a culture's pitiless prurience.
Worldly influences would hinder use of our agency afforded through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But we are agents who can act, and that affects everything in terms of how we live the gospel in our daily lives. It affects how we pray, how we study the scriptures, how we worship at church.
To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.
I am a firm believer that upon release, ex-offenders should be afforded a second chance to become productive citizens by providing rehabilitation and education that will help them join the workforce.
Civil union is less than marriage. Marriage is a sacred and valued institution and ought to be afforded equal protection.
Things are changing. I've been training since I was 9 years old to stretch my wings as an actor dramatically, but have never really been afforded the opportunity to show that.