Japan is the most intoxicating place for me. In Kyoto there's an inn called the Tawaraya which is quite extraordinary. The Japanese culture fascinates me: the food the dress the manners and the traditions. It's the travel experience that has moved me the most.

Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are they provide something steady reliable and safe in a confusing world.

It's true Christmas can feel like a lot of work particularly for mothers. But when you look back on all the Christmases in your life you'll find you've created family traditions and lasting memories. Those memories good and bad are really what help to keep a family together over the long haul.

I want our government to encourage and protect freedom as well as our traditions of faith and family.

Oklahomans value our children and our seniors. Oklahomans value traditions of faith. Oklahomans value our heroes our veterans. Oklahomans value innovation and the creative arts.

Our country's political discourse and debate are enriched by discussions of the political implications of our faith traditions whether they are taking place in our communities at our dinner tables or in our places of worship.

I am an Episcopalian who takes the faith of my fathers seriously and I would I think be disheartened if my own young children were to turn away from the church when they grow up. I am also a critic of Christianity if by critic one means an observer who brings historical and literary judgment to bear on the texts and traditions of the church.

With faith and courage generations of Armenians have overcome great suffering and proudly preserved their culture traditions and religion and have told the story of the genocide to an often indifferent world.

These days too many of us seem inclined to cover our ears close our eyes and blindly follow the most narrow conservative tenets of religion or else seek comfort in the ancient traditions of New Age ritual.