Interview

Recently I was charmed to read an interview Lillie conducted of Lee on one of his blogposts. It's an interesting mix; part of the charm is the unpredictability of the questions, and - naturally - the other part is the response of the interviewee. I don't expect to match lee's, but, for what it's worth......

Here are the rules, as memes must have rules:

Directions for the Interview Meme:
1. Leave me a comment saying "Interview Me."
2. I will respond by asking you 5 questions. (I get to pick the questions.)
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions.

The fun, of course, is that there is no way to anticipate the questions and decide in advance if you'd like to answer. (tim, I know this has you chafing at the bit and eager to play, so I have a unique set of questions already waiting for you....)

so, with thanks to lee, here goes:

1. If you could go and live in any time in history, when would it be, where would it be and why?

Athens, in the time of Solon. But only if I could be a man and a citizen, thank you very much, I have no illusions about the position of women and paupers during that era!

Athens was then struggling to change from a minor royalty/tribal state, with each king the center of rule for his family and those who attached themselves to him for support, to a structure that had the authority to establish ordered law between families. Solon was thought wise and just and was often entreated by his neighbors to resolve disputes between them. Finally his neighbors asked him to establish a set of rules - legislation – to govern Athens. Having no illusions about the disputatious characters round him, he knew the rules would be changed as soon as he wrote them, so he first solicited their promise that no laws would be changed without his agreement for the next ten years.

Once he'd finished, he left town and traveled for ten years. Unavailable.

We think of this as the birthplace of democracy, and probably it was. But surely there were other customs, laws that Solon built on, and that everyone was familiar with. This is the piece I’d like to understand, the pre-history of democracy.

2. Where do you most like to spend a Saturday afternoon?
On the water, preferably directly ‘on’ it in a small boat. I don’t care if the water is flat, still, currents or surf, being on the water relaxes and soothes me. It reminds me that the conceits of our working hours aren't of much importance.


3. Of what are you most proud?
School was always important to me, and although I wasn’t encouraged, I deeply wanted a traditional education at a “good school.” I hadn’t the heart or the courage to try to fulfill that dream until recently, when I was accepted (many tears of excitement, disbelief) at Stanford for a Masters in Liberal Arts. Being “permitted” to join the classes left me with deep confusion – it was a couple of years before I stopped thinking someone was going to tap me on the shoulder and say – “oops, sorry, there was a mistake, you don’t belong here.” I continue to be conflicted, irritated by the (real and perceived) elitism and the arrogance of some alums I know, while mostly thrilled by the profs and the experience. So – I pretty much keep it a secret at work and among casual friends. When I have had to miss a work activity because of finals or class, I avoid saying where I am attending class. After 4 years of intense, part-time effort, I will be relieved when I finally complete my thesis next year, but deeply proud of having pulled it off.

4. What was your favourite toy as a child?
Can a tree be a toy? Perhaps not, but if so it was in a mulberry tree outside our bedroom window where I spent most of my free hours, perched high in it’s branches, dreaming or reading.

If not, then I’d have to choose Pedro, a stuffed donkey that was privy to all my most secret passions. He had red velvet paws that I rubbed against my cheek to put myself to sleep at night; rubbed until the nap wore off and the cloth wore through. My mom removed his stuffing, washed him, replaced his once-velvet hooves with durable red cordaroy, and re-stuffed him with washable foam so that he was miraculously new again. (This was a variation of the surgery she eventually performed on all of my stuffed animals.) I still have him, de-stuffed, tucked away with some momentos, and much much smaller than the giant toy I carried with me everywhere, and that was almost as big as I.

5.“Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire”. Do you agree?

Very elegantly phrased. Years ago I said it more crudely to contradict a lover who was bemoaning the fact that he “didn’t know how to dance” and wished he did. Meanwhile his performance on the dance floor was, to me, as seductive as his more private performances. There has always seemed to me to be an undeniable connection between the vertical and the horizontal rhythms. One needn’t dance obscenely to feel – and see - the connection.

Bonus Question: What is your favourite piece of music?

Alas. To my embarrassment - I'm a person of words, forms, colors, tastes, smells. Sound isn't my strength. I enjoy music, listen to it often, but haven't the sort of passion that leads one to have a favorite. When I do have a favorite - for a time - its always the lyrics that capture me first.

Thanks, Lee, for letting me play too! Does anyone trust me to think up some questions for them?