Michigan's been recruiting me since the eighth grade, so they have a special place in my heart, I'd say, because I've visited there seven times, and my mom lives in Michigan, still, and she'd probably like me to stay closer to home and play.
But do let me reiterate the spirit of Michigan. It is based upon a deathless loyalty to Michigan and all her ways; an enthusiasm that makes it second nature for Michigan men to spread the gospel of their university to the world's distant outposts; a conviction that nowhere is there a better university, in any way, than this Michigan of ours.
Living in a bubble as I said in a featherbed of privilege. That's why leaving home, leaving the prep school and going to the University of Michigan in the early '60s was a moment of awakening and to go to a place like Michigan and to see suddenly a world in flames and the injustices all around was quite a wake up call. I lasted a year and a half at Michigan before I dropped out and joined the merchant marines and I was a merchant marine for my sophomore year then I came back to Michigan.
It's my job, it's my role, it's my mission, it's my dream to have everyone who has Michigan ties - whether you went to college in Michigan, whether you grew up in Michigan, if you've ever heard of the state of Michigan - to do what you can to influence the students of the Detroit metropolitan area.
Michigan State is always welcome at Ann Arbor. Your teams in all the various branches of athletics are more frequent visitors here than those of any other institution. This is as it should be, for not two universities are closer together in every way than Michigan State and Michigan.
To me, the logical path then is where could have [Mitt] Romney maybe have won and didn't? And you look at Ohio, Florida. You're still not there. Now you have got to win either Pennsylvania or Michigan. And I think Pennsylvania is probably a little bit more doable than Michigan, but, again, neither one of those states have the Republicans won since 1988.
I think people who grow up in one particular environment, like the Alabama-Auburn game, they don't ever get the same appreciation for the Ohio State-Michigan game or the Michigan State-Notre Dame game or the Michigan-Michigan State game, the Browns and the Steelers.
If you look at Michigan generally speaking. You look at the big auto plants that are being built in Mexico and you look at what is happening with respect to Mexico is like the eighth wonder of the world. And Michigan is getting killed.
I do know that I love placing my stories in Michigan because, if you collect all the ideas, it turns the whole state into one kaleidoscopic, frightening place. Michigan as house of horrors.
I went to Michigan State because a coach I was being recruited by told me if I go to Michigan State, I wouldn't start. I didn't like the boundaries he put on me. He was probably trying to look out for my best interests, but at the time I took it kind of personal. Not only did I start, but I made captain.
I remember being seven and asking my mom if I was as pretty as Monique [my best friend in grade school]. And with all the love in the world, my mom looked at me and said, 'Oh, honey, you're so funny.' So, she doesn't lie to me...she answers the question by not answering and instead tells me what she thinks is my greatest strength.
A big reason I wanted to do a tour was because I'm from Michigan and not many things go to Michigan. Most conventions are in like London or Florida or California, and that's about it.
I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. I lived in Grand Blanc, Michigan for a year and that's when I got involved in acting and took classes there. A manager who saw me at the agency I was at in Michigan wanted me to come out to L.A.
'Mulan' holds a very special place in my heart. It's been 16 years since the film, but hordes of fans still come up and tell me how much she means to them.
In eighth grade, I went to home school, but it was a program meant for stay-at-home moms, and both my parents worked, so I had to grade my own papers. I'd be like, 'Ah man, you're close enough, you get 100 percent!'
When I was seven, I had to stay home for several weeks because of some ailment, whereupon my father elected to teach me so that I should not fall behind. In fact, he taught me in three months as much as the school taught in two years, so, on returning to school, I was shifted from grade 4 to grade 6.
As a Michigan senator, I feel a special responsibility to protect the Great Lakes. They are not only a source of clean drinking water for more than 30 million people but are also an integral part of Michigan's heritage and its economy.