About a year ago, my daughter asked me, "Mommy, what's going to happen to us?"

It took me back to my own childhood, when I worried about world war, terrorism, nuclear weapons. I remember asking my elders about WWII: "When did you know? What did you do?" They fought. Some, like my great uncle, who stormed the beach at Normandy, never made it home.

You can't know what you'll do until the moment comes. I'm running for office because our moment has come. This is not a normal moment, and I need an answer for my children as good as the one my elders gave me.

I'm not a career politician, but I know what kind of person I am. I was first tested in 2001, as a young student in downtown Manhattan on September 11th. That story is in the video below. It was the beginning of my true education.

I'm a mother, a producer, an advocate, a friend. I've learned my lessons in war zones and on mountaintops, on city streets and at the kitchen table. I spent my childhood in MA, went out into the world to live and learn, and came home.

The only problems we can solve are the ones we're honest about. Sometimes there are only hard choices. Sometimes a fresh perspective changes everything. Sometimes, when you try something different, you win.

My answer to my daughter begins here, in the place I was born. The place my elders are buried. The place where I first learned what community could be.