“It's difficult to write about poverty in a way that doesn't feel clich...” — Jake Halpern Quote

It's difficult to write about poverty in a way that doesn't feel cliched.

Most of us, myself included, have forgotten what real darkness is like. We live in a world where light is inescapable. It comes from street lamps, headlights, security floodlights, and even the faint glow of our alarm clocks.

We take it for granted that we can see at all times of day and night. But there was a time, not all that long ago, in the age before electricity, when night brought total darkness - and with it, a not-so-small amount of terror. We get a sense of this when we go camping or when there's a power outage, and our fear of the darkness is primal.

My mother was being hounded by a debt collector over a debt that she didn't owe, and she eventually just paid it because she wanted the calls to stop. I was very surprised. It sounded so strange. I started poking around on the Internet and found this was extremely common.

The whole saas-bahu drama is very cliched. I feel there's already too much of that on TV. So I was waiting for something like 'Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi.' The show offered a fresh and interesting plot.

It may sound cliched, but 'Strictly' is a real journey. I try to encourage my partner to stay in as long as they can, but above all to enjoy it.

As cliched as it sounds, if you have an original voice and an original idea, then no matter what anybody says, you have to find a way to tell that story.

It's very cliched to go, 'You're not punk.' We don't care if we are, and we don't care if we aren't.