actresses-from-west-virginia

"I hate these whiny middle-class kids co-opting people's real suffering … Videos ripping off news photography of people in the Third World! I mean, we live like czars. … These people who are the most fascinated with violence are the people who live the most privileged, cushy lives … They tend to be college-educated dweebs who worship William Burroughs. That's so fucking boring. When I see my friends lying in caskets and put in the ground, when you're really confronted with it, it's not cool, it's not Trent Reznor. I'd just like to make something beautiful. It's something to aspire to."

"When you're friends with Lance, you kind of weave in and out of his life but I met him in 1978 when I got to New York City and was hanging out at CBGB's. I really think that Lance was responsible for getting me to New York because I watched An American Family alone in the kitchen and none of my other family members were interested in it, and I was fascinated, as everybody my age was, by Lance and I really think that's what got me there. I immediately started hanging out at all the clubs that he hung out in, and I wanted to go to the places that I'd seen on television. … You know, I honestly can't remember the exact moment but I know I was dazzled, I was just this little hick from West Virginia and I was meeting a celebrity, an icon, somebody who had made it."

"I was given opportunities not extended to my fellow soldiers, I embraced those opportunities to set the record straight."

"I had a story tell, a story that needed to be told so that people would know the truth."

"The nurses at the hospital tried to soothe me, and they even tried unsuccessfully at one point to return me to Americans."

"A group came to the hospital to rescue me. I could hear them speaking in English but I was still very afraid. Then a soldier came into the room. He tore the American flag from his uniform and he handed it to me in my hand. And he told me "We're American soldiers, and we're here to take you home." And I looked at him and I said "Yes, I am an American soldier too.""

"I'm not about to take credit for something I didn't do."

"Tales of great heroism were being told... at my parents home in Wirt County, West Virginia, it was understaged by media all repeating the story of the "little girl Rambo" from rural West Virginia who went down fighting. It was not true."

"I have repeatedly said, when asked, that if the stories about me helped inspired our troops and rally a nation, then perhaps there was some good. However, I am still confused as to why they chose to lie and try to make me a legend, when the real heroics — of my fellow soldiers that day — were legendary."

"The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own heroes — ideals for heroes — and they don't need to be told elaborate lies."

"My hero is every American who says "My country needs me" and answers that call to fight. I had the good fortune and opportunity to come home and to tell the truth; many soldiers, like Pat Tillman... did not have that opportunity. The truth of war is not always easy. The truth is always more heroic than the hype."

"When I remember those difficult days, I remember the fear, I remember the strength, I remember that hand of that fellow American soldier, reassuring me that I was going to be okay."

"I lived the war in Iraq, and today I still have family and friends fighting in Iraq. My support for our troops is unwavering. I believe this is not a time for finger-pointing, it is a time for truth — the whole truth— vs. hype, and misinformation."