WHY DO YOU DO IT? WHAT DRIVES YOU?
I usually do things because I have to. The list of things I truly want to do is fairly small. I don't want to write. I have to pay bills. I don't want to cook or go shopping. I have to feed myself and clothe myself. I have to feed and clothe my daughter. I discovered I was good at writing at the same time I realized I'd never have a career in music. By the time I realized I didn't actually love writing, it was too late to truly give a career in art — what I truly love — a go. This drives me to work on my art as much as I can while working on writing about art to the best of my ability in the hope I will one day be in the right place at the right time to provide for myself on art alone.
WHAT IS ONE THING YOU DO FOR SANITY MAINTENANCE?
I see a therapist.
WHAT IS THE SCRAPPIEST THING YOU’VE DONE TO MAKE OR SAVE $$?
I don't know how to answer this. I guess I worked as a waiter on a fancy bus between NYC and D.C. for a few weeks and then ghosted them in between jobs. I once crawled around nude and mooing like a cow for someone's graduate school film, but I think that might have actually been unpaid. I got free lunch, though.
YOUR TASK IS TO PRESCRIBE ONE BOOK OR FILM TO THE COLLECTIVE FOR MANDATORY CONSUMPTION. WHAT IS IT?
BOOK: I can't just pick one. I'd say that I found EXHALATION by Ted Chiang life-changing and recently enjoyed a very good book called CHAIN GANG ALL STARS. As for books about either writing or art, Stephen King's ON WRITING is a necessity. And I don't know about art. I like looking at art much more than reading about it.
current obsession?
I am an obsessive person, which is really my most fatal flaw and why I'd never make it as a Supreme Court justice. I once wrote a short story about how I fantasized about burning down all the pandemic dining sheds. My Senate confirmation hearing would probably be entertaining, but at least they wouldn’t hear about my boofing with Squee. As for my latest obsessions, I have spent way too much money buying and playing dress up with my new motorcycle. I only got the thing because I hated having to constantly search for parking for my car.
MOST USEFUL FAILURE?
I was so tired of writing news for a certain tabloid during the pandemic I tried applying for law schools but was rejected from every single one. I realized I needed a fucking hobby and decided to study art at Brooklyn College for fun. Literally changed my life except I still write news and mostly everything is exactly the same.
Honestly, this is going to sound stupid as hell because it comes from a mediocre TV show I once binged, but "Always Forward, Never Back." There's a brilliant message of resiliency there that I admire because it's how I've lived my life through an unforgiving news industry and other life events.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?
I'll tell you what I'm not working on because I haven't had time to finish it: a documentary about immigration to Portugal. I'm nearly complete and I think about it every hour of every day of my life and how it's not complete. Mostly, I try to draw and paint during my little downtime from work and caring for an infant. As for writing, I have a TV show I've been trying to write for years that I'd love someone to co-write with me if anyone's interested. The idea is solid and fucking original but I don't enjoy writing enough to finish it out.
DISCIPLINE OR ANARCHY?
Anarchy. Discipline takes too much.
