Carol M. Tang :: Exhibion Curator

California Academy of Sciences

[San Francisco, CA]

"This musuem must inspire the next generation of scientists and inspire people to take care of nature rigth now. I see this space as our opportunity to get people to care about the natural world. As we become more and more disconnected from our food, our air, and the land, this museum in the middle of a great ciy has to be more than just an empty building. It has to have a life of its own."

Katsumi Iwasaki :: Swimmer

The ocean ("I've only missed one time since 1987, every Sunday at one o'clock.")

[Coney Island, NY]

"The ocean is deep. Sometimes I talk to the ocean. Sometimes it answers to me. That's the kind of feeling I get from the ocean, that's why I go. My mother and father they passed away. Sometimes I talk to them or so many people I miss. Also I say, 'Here I am again, thank you very much.' I pray to the God I of whatever.

The ocean teaches me so many things. It teaches like a church or temple. Jewish people believe everything is for God. The ocean is also one of the gods. The ocean is like a preacher who cleanses my cold body. That's how I feel, so that's why I'm still going.

Every couple of years I go to the Japanese temple. Sometimes I go to church. Temple has Buddha and church has Jesus. But the ocean has something too, that's the way I feel. The Buddha, the Jesus, the ocean-it's all of the same. Even Islam, all the same. Whatever you feel you want to believe, that's the important thing. Whatever you feel like is god, that's just it, just feel it."

Hanson Tse:: Actor

Stage set of Haruki Murakami's After the Quake at Berkeley Repertory Theatre

[Berkeley, CA]

"There is a sense of freedom entering a world where you know everything you are going to say. On stage I enter a space where I can do no wrong. I allow the irrelevant pieces of my life to fall aside and for a brief time the stage frames a simpler world in which I live. The space functions like a magnifying glass where emotions, thoughts, and desires are brought into focus, causing every moment to count."

Henry Newinn :: Elvis Collector

Newinn's Living Room

[Houston, TX] Y

"Elvis was a musical icon and a symbol of the 'American Dream.' My collection started very simply with records, guitars, magazines, pictures, photos, artwork-then it expanded to include other Elvis memorabilia. I arranged a wide variety of Elvis memorabilia and collectibles (everything from an apron to wine bottles) on the floor and the walls of the house. [My plan is] to continue to fuse the concept of 'East meets West' in my home. It's a large [20-year-old] collection, but I feel it does not impede our day-to-day living. Instead, it brings more joy, fun and excitement to our home everyday."

John Ninomiya :: Cluster Balloonist

The sky, suspended beneath a cluster of helium-filled balloons

"The sky is shaped by my presence in it. That I am carried there by a cluster of huge toy balloons will allow people to see the sky not just as a realm of airliners and frontal systems and smog, but also as a space where dreams are enacted.

In elementary school, I remember seeing The Red Balloon, a children's film that ends with a little French boy being carried over Paris by bouquet of colorful toy balloons. It's something that I daydreamed of doing myself, and of all the odd things that you dream of doing as a kid, it would seem to be the least likely to come true. [It makes me feel] very small and very glad to be in such a large sky."