Where you come from is such a huge part of who you are today.
The first 3 years of a person’s life determines the next 80 years.
When I was a teenager, I got into SF, quite heavily, and that too has had a major impact on my writing.
I rejected being a lot of things that I grew up in, and yet I didn't. I got all my tactics from where I grew up... I can talk about all the people in those environments more than I can talk about the teachers at Juilliard or anyone else.
I am drawn to the ways in which we are shaped by people and by place.
Everyone has a story that they read when they were younger that influenced them.
I think how Chicago plays a role in my life - it had such a role in my youth and the decisions that I made as a kid and formulated who I am as an artist early on.
What I am is a direct result of how I was raised.
