Danny Glover, actor. (Power Play).

Danny Glover has starred in such films as "Grand Canyon," "The Color Purple," "Angels in the Outfield" and the "Lethal Weapon" series. A native of San Francisco, Glover enjoyed that city's parks for decades. In addition to his television, film and stage work, Glover devotes much of his time to publicizing the need for more international involvement and intervention with the AIDS crisis in Africa, and lobbying for African-American issues, civil rights, and various literacy programs and projects.

Below are excerpts from Glover's keynote address at the annual Illinois Park and Recreation Association and Illinois Association of Park Districts conference in Chicago in January.

On the lasting impact of his childhood excursions in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park: "You always remember a specific place that you love. I remember the park I grew up in so vividly. I can even recall the names of the recreation directors. They kept us kids on point and created a caring, loving nurturing place to play.

"In the park I grew up in, there was something for everyone. It was our resource for the future--a collaboration between professionals and the people who have made a decision that it's important to have parks. It is so important to retain the love and appreciation of open spaces as we become a more urban society. Sprawl and overdevelopment are so much more prevalent these days. We must preserve and protect most of that space while we still can."

On the social education that parks can provide: "There's not a time I pass the Japanese gardens [in Golden Gate Park] that I don't recall the interment of Japanese Californians during World War II."

On the lessons of nature: "I marveled at the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon. It represents a metaphor for what we, as a nation, are becoming. I look at parks today as an adult but with a child's mind so that I was always able to see myself as significant, even in so large a space. Parks are in our spirit. They are a natural and unspoken covenant."

On the importance of public support for parks: "Every state has budget deficits, but that shouldn't stop us from developing and maintaining more parks and making them accessible to everyone--especially kids--because parks provide big opportunities for children to connect with each other. How many baseball players have said, `If it hadn't been for parks and recreation programs, I would never have gotten a start?'

"We must retain our love and appreciation for the environment and follow in the philosophical footsteps of Langston Hughes, who wrote, `My soul has grown deep in the rivers.'"