"When I was five years old I had watched my older brother do a dance at school. When the curtains opened and those kids came out on stage wearing these African costumes and paint on their faces, and after I saw my big brother dance, I immediately knew that's what I wanted to do with my life. From that day on I bugged my drama teacher to let me participate, because I wasn't allowed to until the third grade. So once I hit the third grade I joined every program I could. It got to the point where my mom told me I couldn't join anymore clubs, because she had five kids and couldn't keep buying me costumes. My story has never stopped, I've never stopped doing shows. The Arts are my life. I sing and dance, but I also do photography and costume design. Detroit is my home. I lived and studied fashion in New York and modeled. Then I came back home to Detroit for a year and worked at The Hotel Pontchartrain. I was able to save up enough money to make my way to Paris. I was in Paris for about a year and a half, then I came back to Detroit because I found out I was going to be having a daughter, so I came back here to be with my daughter. But, now that she's grown, this is the second half of my book."

"Well, what I think a lot about is the environment. The environment has a lot to do with the economy, and not everyone is aware of that. Which brings me to the topic of Global Warming. It's a very serious thing. Not all of the powers that be take Global Warming seriously, which is unfortunate. But, that will change come next election season."

"I enjoy drawing and sketching. Actually, this summer I should be talking with General Motors about obtaining Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Saturn's blue prints and everything. I'm studying automotive technology at the moment, so I hope they help."

"I'm a young lady, 84 years old, still working and taking care of myself. I came to Detroit in September of 1950. Boy, I love Detroit, yes I do." Do you have any words of wisdom you'd like to share? "Help one another, that's what I like to do. Matter of fact, I just helped that lady down the street get her car out, it was stuck in the snow. I like helping people, but when people try to help me, I get teary-eyed. I try to be nice, I was raised like that. The lady who adopted me was so good to me growing up. I've had a good, good life. My real family wasn't there, but I don't hold that against them."

"My name is illymac, I go around the city drawing people. I do quick sketches of people, so hell yeah you can take a picture of illymac. Hold on, this ain't going to be as quick as yours." ...[Sketching]... That's beautiful, thank you! Any words of wisdom you'd like to share? "God makes people meet for certain reasons, man. You and I were meant to cross paths today. Just keep on taking pictures, and making people happy. That's all I do, is draw and make people happy."

"My biggest fear is death. It's something I don't know, don't understand. Life is rough enough, then you got to get something you don't know nothing about -- the unknown is more scarier than the known. I'm just trying to make it right here, so I can enjoy death when I get there."

"You'll have to excuse me, I'm kind of a history buff, still learning though. But, if you look at how we live today, compared to how we lived yesterday, the contrast is just... Wow. I can't even imagine going to the bathroom and not having a toilet, you know? An outhouse, what's that? I mean I've seen those down south, but they're not common. Now a days we can access anything through TV or the internet -- we just get on our computers or smart phones and can look up anything. It's a common thing. You couldn't do that ten-twenty years ago. Only the rich could do that shit. I only go there because it's funny how you get so used to certain things, you take so much for granted. Somewhere along the way you have to realize none of that shit matters."

"I'm 20, I just graduated from high school. Well, I guess that was two years ago now. I'm just working right now, but I want to go back to school, or go into the Army. If I go to school I want to study culinary arts. I like cooking and I love food -- I want to do it because it's fun. When you're grown you want to be doing something fun with your life, not some nine-to-five. That would get boring."

"I been here all my life. Grew up in the projects, until they tore that down. But what got me out on the streets was I had an accident about 5 years ago. Ain't no body want to take me because I have seizures. Yup, been here all my life, 52 years. Ever heard of Saint Andrews Hall? How about an old rock star named Iggy Pop? One night I was at a gas station and he came out of his bus, didn't know where he was, and asked me for directions to Saint Andrews. After I told him he gave me a back stage pass and fifty dollars."

"I've had a hard life. My mom was on drugs, my father wasn't there. My aunt raised me. She was a bit jealous of my mother, so she didn't treat me too well. My mother was so pretty, so I guess she was just jealous of her sister."