“Or we can keep moving forward with President Obama’s vision for a growing economy that works for middle-class families in North Carolina and all across the country. For me, for North Carolina and for America, it’s an easy choice.”

The most powerful thing we own is our vote.

I’ve always been me. I’ve always been very direct and have told the truth and have been very willing to stand up and speak out.

We can go back to economic plans that are only designed to benefit the wealthiest among us, like Mitt Romney.

From education to broadband, from building roads and bridges to supporting the military, Barack Obama is delivering for North Carolina. And he is delivering for America. A growing middle class is the foundation for a strong America.

Unlike Mitt Romney, President Obama is standing up for Planned Parenthood.

I have spent my tenure in office – and, in fact, my adult lifetime – fighting for things that I care deeply about. And as anyone who knows me will tell you, I do not back down from tough fights.

I wish I could say I’m an architect and planned it this way, foresaw doing all these things, but honestly, I’ve been lucky that things have come across my path and they’ve worked out well for me.

I never really read Allen Ginsberg poetry, even though I have a book he gave me.

It is so inspiring when you come across a woman who is very strong and dedicated and is amazing at what they do. That’s how I feel about Meryl Streep.

If people can write to each other across space, why can they not write across time too?

One of the most powerful sayings I have come across is by Imam ash-Shafi’I, “My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and that what misses me was never meant for me.”

To write as if your life depended on it; to write across the chalkboard, putting up there in public the words you have dredged; sieved up in dreams, from behind screen memories, out of silence– words you have dreaded and needed in order to know you exist.

As I go across the country and privately visit women’s shelters and counselling centres.

These objects were sometimes just 12 inches across yet needed enough detail to fill a movie screen.