Teresa R. Funke

“Never let your goals or convictions get in the way of living your life. It's not about who dies with more, it's about who lived the most.”

“I've realized I don't need to keep looking for my path. I'm already on it. I just need to trust where it leads.”

“The only difference between a grown-up's mistake and a child's is the size of the consequence.”

“If you haven't proclaimed it in your own life, do it now. Say, "I am an artist.”

“This is how hatred begins -- with a muffled laugh on a hot night and a knock on the door.”

“One day this war will end. And when it does, Tule Lake will be just a memory.”

“Let's make room for the kind of art that challenges us, pushes boundaries, stirs and inspires, and takes our breath away with its uniqueness. Let's reconnect with our artist souls and trust that if we make good art, we'll make good money.”

“It's ever so fun and fulfilling to be clever, but more lasting and effective to be consistent.”

“Whether the changes that are coming in your life will be unexpected or determined by your choices and actions, the wheels are in motion. The adventure has just begun.”

“When you find your passion, turn a deaf ear to the naysayers and follow your dreams.”

“I let all that anger and worry go because they don't belong to me any more than the future does. And I don't wanna feel them anyhow, because the truth is, whatever happens when this war ends, here and now, far from Richmond County, I'm freer than I've ever been.”

“When we give ourselves permission to go wherever our outlandish thoughts take us, we feel that rush of creativity and excitement.”

“Spend one more day in pursuit of art that only you can produce, and somewhere, someone is envying your courage to do just that.”

“Putting our art out there is one of the biggest risks we can take. It's a special kind of vulnerability. It takes guts to be an artist.”

“In times of trouble, people need artists. We create those spaces where their own pain and worry and sadness can rest, and where their broken hearts can hope again.”

“If you build a wall to separate people, there will be those who find a way around the wall, or over it, or under it, or through it. We humans are not meant to be contained, and neither are our thoughts.”

“As with everything else, the more we separate ourselves from each other, the weaker we become.”

“Artists have a unique ability to paint the world, and to help people see injustice. They do it not with guns, but with pens and guitars and paintbrushes.”

“Our art is never really ours. Each person who experiences it brings to it a piece of themselves and reacts to it in ways that stem from their personal struggles, beliefs, morals, and even hang-ups.”

“We tend to think that what matters is decided by society or culture or religion or our peers, but no one can say what truly matters except us.”