Tuesday, April 24, 2007

All about me, and then you

Thanks, Robin!

Allison:
1. I never understood how you wound up in Boston after growing up in rural Pennsylvania. Explain.

I wanted to go to college as far away from my parents and idiots from high school as possible. University of Washington (state, not DC) didn't want me, and Princeton was too close, so Boston U. it was.

2. When did you learn to sew, and why?

I guess I was about 5. My mom got tired of me begging her to make dresses for Barbie, so she showed me how to hand sew. I still have all the old 1970's/1980's doll patterns. Heck, I still have all the rad clothes I made for Barbie.

Eventually, I graduated up to the Singer. I used that machine until 1993, when it broke for the last time.

I also spent a lot of time with my mom's mom, Grammy, who made wedding dresses and quilts. It sounds hokey, but one of my earliest memories is playing with fabric underneath a quilt that had been stretched out on a frame and was in the process of being quilted.

3. As a 7th grade English teacher, what's the most entertaining example of 'tween behavior you've witnessed?

Oh lord, I have to pick one? Well, my first year at BW was marked by having to write a referral on a boy who, as I put it, disrupted my class by "stimulating ejaculation". He had a hacky sack or something, and was pretending to copulate with it. As soon as I realized what was going on, he started pulling out the stuffing and throwing it at girls, while making ejaculatory sounds. Porn in the classroom: the only way!


4. When are you going to make that aging punk rocker survey/meme/bulletin, and can you give us a preview of some of the questions?

You might be an aging punk rocker if:

1. You read Sassy.

2. Wore red lipstick and thought it made you look "artsy"

3. You owned more than one pair of black Chinese mary janes.
4. You were goth before it was a store in the mall and was associated with massacres, Marilyn Manson, and was ripped off by fashion designers.
5. You wore black leggings and baby doll dresses, with aforementioned Chinese mary janes.
6. You burned candles in wine glasses and thought it was "artsy"
7. You loved 120 Minutes.
8. You now sell all your old "rad" outfits on Ebay.
9. Heck, you now sell vintage finds from estate sales on Ebay.
10. You fondly remember the first (and best, IMHO) Lollapalooza. I still have my t-shirt. Is it ironic yet?

That's about all I got. Once I started writing them down, the well dried up. I'm still trying, though.

5. That night that Matt was screaming, "You've gotta take me to Jack in the Box!", did you take him?

Yes. There was no other option. He ended up NOT eating all the crap he ordered. But it did make for an entertaining story.


Now it's someone else's turn to play if they wish: Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” I will respond by asking you five questions in the comments here on this post so check back here. I get to pick the questions. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

In other news from Squaresville, my hoosier neighbor has a rooster roaming his yard/alley/neighborhood. It was given to his sister. I don't mind it, but I wish he had a pen for it.
Me and the St. Louis Craft Mafia will be in force at Gypsy Caravan on Memorial Day. Come see us and hang out in our tents.
I love Chicago. A lot.
It's raining!

7 comments:

Autumn Wiggins said...

Just for shits and giggles, you should dress a hackey sack up in barbie cloths and take it to Jack in the Box with you sometime, maybe stick it on your antenna and make all the other Jacks jealous.

It would be nice for once if someone interviewed me without asking asinine stuff.

Seriously, OK, I just saw this interview of Tori Amos and not that I am even close to her plain of existance, but I can totally relate to having the same kind of experience where you are getting thrown silly questions and ignorant comments. Then you try to give a meaningful, thought provoking answer, but the interviewer just can't grasp it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPcf63LKCJE

Interview me Allison(if you so choose!), you are not a blase out-of-touch pawn of media stupidity, you kick ass :)

Unknown said...

I'll bite -- interview me! Oh, and, do you suppose it was your weird neighbor I saw when I was leaving your house on Friday? He was standing in the alley (I went that way so I could see Little Jerry again) with a giant plastic mug full of beer. And it was, what, 11am?

Allison said...

Autumn:
1. What's your take on this new planet that supposedly could support life? It's 120 trillion miles away!

2. Exactly how many crafts do you know how to do?

3. Maybe too personal, so feel free to ignore, but will you ever try for a girl?

4. What would be your ideal job?

5. What small thing has made you happy in the past week?

6 (optional) What are your favorite flowers?

Allison said...

Cat:
You know it was my neighbor. Did he have a moustache? I think Little Jerry has a new home. I saw the sister chasing him with a rake and a box yesterday :(

Here are your questions:
1. You do a great radio show on Thursday mornings. It makes the drive to work oh-so-much better. How does it feel to be talking on the radio and know that many folks you know are listening?

2. When I first met you, you had longish hair and often wore it in cute, aging punk rocker braids. Now you sport an equally cute pixie cut. Do you plan on eventually growing it back out, and how will you avoid the possible mullet factor?

3. Discuss your job history, from your earliest to your current.

4. What sort of balls does it take to quit a consistently-paying job and try to live by your craft? I am impressed by this.

5. What nationality of food have you never tried, but have access to?

6. What are your memories of Sassy magazine?

Unknown said...

The Man Who Would Be Dennis looks alot like the guy who played the janitor on "Friends," complete with mustache. For some reason I expected Dennis to be less robust, and older.

Little Jerry, we hardly knew ye!

Thanks for the questions -- answers are posted!

Allison said...

Hmmm...Dennis is the black guy who washes cars for a living. Louie is the white guy who does somethng with asphalt for a living. He's the one with LJS. Dennis's yard is neat as a pin. Louie's, well you saw it.

Unknown said...

Oops, got the neighbors' names mixed up! I meant Louie.