Even though I grew up as a Sephardic Jew in Brooklyn where we ate Syrian food and went to temple, it was still America.
In terms of cultural upbringing, I'd be at the temple at the weekend - I'm a Hindu - but I'd also be at the Saints game as well on a Saturday - you do everything, you do both.
Haiti itself was also photographed, some of the streets, some of the mountains, rivers, streams, etc. were photographed before talking with me about how I felt about Haiti. Then the camera went to our voodoo temple and saw a serious ceremony, a real ceremony.
I was born in 1952 in Chidambaram, an ancient temple town in Tamil Nadu best known for its temple of Nataraja, the lord of dance.
In Quanzhou, I have a lot of influence from superstition. I would go to the temple with my grandmother and mother. That is why I have a lot of curiosity about the unseen force and invisible things.
From the solemn gloom of the temple children run out to sit in the dust, God watches them play and forgets the priest.
The temple is a place of worship. Reverence is a supernal form of worship. It is the form of worship found in the celestial kingdom.
I remember, as a kid, my grandfather would grab my temples and say, 'You've got to focus, Jake. You've got to focus.'
When you're on TV, you come into people's homes. In theater and film, they go to you - to the temple of the cinema or theater. And it's very different.
So, as a child in school, I used to write essays on how I spent my holiday or about a visit to a temple. I used to document small things and enjoyed the process of writing even then.
Tower Records is like a temple to me. I'll stay there for hours. Nobody can shop for records with me. It drives them out of their minds.
Haiti itself was also photographed, some of the streets, some of the mountains, rivers, streams, etc. were photographed before talking with me about how I felt about Haiti. Then the camera went to our voodoo temple and saw a serious ceremony, a real ceremony.
I grew up in Synagogue in the boys' choir. We didn't listen to music in the house; only at temple. Then I went to a mostly African American high school on the South Side of Chicago and joined a gospel choir.
I've been to all the Dhaams, Tirupati, Shirdi, most of the temples in the Northern belt, but I go there for religious reasons. Pilgrimages are not my idea of fun!