Five questions from anjibobanji

[raybear]

1. You are a saint. What are you holding in your hands in your icon? How did you die? Write me about your life as a saint.

I will be canonised centuries from now, when my remains are unexpectedly discovered during the planting season and buried with me are dozens of volumes of my writing which were hermetically sealed to survive the elements. During this era of peak oil survival, liberation theology will have taken over the main branches of the catholic church and they will include in their lists of saints people who weren't catholic at all, but because of my three miracles (1. that I got published; 2. that I convinced eight people to stop buying bottled water in bulk; 3. that I owned more used books than the average bookstore), my saintship will be recognized. Also, I invented the word saintship. After I insisted on sticking my fingers into the bullet holes of George Bush's corpse because I didn't believe him to be dead, I contracted a necrotic infection that eventually took my own life. I am featured in stained glass windows holding a bucket of water and a pen and notebook.

2. It's sell out time my friend. You have been hired to write a series of books for a specific audience, the money is good, you have a fake name so your reputation won't be damaged. And so tell me who are the books target audience and what are they about?

What reputation?? Well, ok, I do like pen names. I would get hired by Black Lace to expand into trans-fetish markets, but I will also write lots of hetero erotica too. My titles will be the best-selling in the catalog for a few years until its leaked that I am not a woman and the scandal will drive booksales up even higher. However, ethically, I will be forced to end my contract with them, only to be immediately picked up by larger publishing house who will start a new imprint of 'mainstream' erotica. I will probably either cease enjoying sex because of this lucrative endeavor, or I will only have it in a swing while blindfolded and being beaten with chains by someone in fishnet stocking, because its the only thing that gets me off anymore.

3. You have an extra serving of soul on your plate baby. Where did it come from?

I grew up mostly in Atlanta! My family for several generations back is Deep South. Not that those things automatically mean anything, but as I get older, I am strangely drawn to how the South and being Southern has shaped me. But probably more importantly, I am a sponge, I soak up things around me, whether its accents or music or heart or ways of seeing the world. I probably cannibalize and steal, but then again, who doesn't? Mostly I just listen and watch and learn and accidentally mimic and then seamlessly incorporate. Sometimes not-so-seamlessly, too. Also, I'm a Cancer. We are sensitive poets. And we like the blues. Or at least I do.

4. Do you believe in utopias? Is there any book you have read, any belief system that speaks to you most deeply about how the world could be? I guess I am asking what gives you hope?

I grew up Methodist so for a long time utopia was heaven, but it always seemed really vague to me. I wasn't so much into streets of gold and I wondered what we would do all day. I've read More's Utopia and I've always been intrigued by communes, except those stories always end badly, they are so close to cults, and I never felt powerful enough to come up with one on my own that I felt confident would be resistant of plague that has caused so many to fall. But recently, this is starting to change for me. Perhaps this is my version of getting older. I turned 30, I realized, I don't have a concrete life vision of what I want, how I want my world to be. I have lots of small ideas and large concepts all commingling in my brain at any given time, but nothing to work on, work towards. Except now I am starting to shape ideas, and its connected to a house and a small town/community and learning to grow my own food. I am buying the books now to start learning, and the plan is that in 5 years or so, (maybe when my second novel gets sold, I will use the advance as a down payment) on said house with a small plot of land and we will live there and here in the city (a smaller apartment here) and I will farm for two hours a day and produce 50% of what we eat. And I will still write and I will be in the city too, teaching writing, and I will find ways to engage the community of artists and queers around me so we can sustain ourselves as extended family here in the midwest, stereotypically California-thinking that doesn't need to be solely California-ways.

5. Your mix cds are legend. One of my favorite entries of yours was about Joni Mitchell's Blue, that was beautiful. I want 10 or more songs, a cd that sums it up, the ultimate raybear mix!

Ok, I'm making this mix RIGHT NOW as I type and tomorrow I might regret, but I'm going with the moment! I call this mix:

If You Know and Love All 10 of These Songs, We Can Be Friends (don't worry, we can be friends for other reasons, I'm just saying, here's a shortcut.)

1. Walk On By -- Dionne Warwick
2. Ironman -- Ghostface Killah
3. Quiet Storm (remix) -- Mobb Deep w/ Lil Kim
4. Sara -- Fleetwood Mac
5. There Will Never Be Another You -- Chet Baker
6. One of These Things First -- Nick Drake
7. SpottieOttieDopalicious -- OutKast
8. Inspiration Information -- Shuggie Otis
9. Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect -- The Decemberists
10. Far Away -- Martha Wainwright
Bonus Track: SUBG -- Kelly Clarkson.