[Ginger]

PART I - GENERAL INFO

Astrological Sign: Libra

Location: NYC area

Height: 5’ 4”

Eye Color: Hazel

Hair Color: Blond

Piercings - how many & where: Left ear, one; right ear, two.

Tattoos - how many & where: None.

Cat person or dog person: Both. And if I could get on the floor and play with any other animal, it would be a South American capybara; and if I could give a wonderful, no-expense-spared home to an animal who needed one, it would be an octopus.

Job: Web article and speechwriter.

What do you like about your job? Interviewing writers, performers, biologists and others who are doing good work; writing in different voices for different assignments.

What do you loathe about your job? Having to cover events that don’t interest me or that annoy me, ideologically.

Favorite books/authors: I’ve been happy to become acquainted with the work of quite a few wonderful poets in the last couple years; Phil Miller, Elizabeth Haukaas, Gerry LaFemina, Gardner McFall, Mervyn Taylor, Cleopatra Mathis—the list is always growing. And it’s been fun to reconnect with old teachers who’ve influenced me since the eighties, like Quincy Troupe and poets I’ve always admired, like Mary Oliver, Elizabeth Bishop and Adrienne Rich.

Favorite bands/musicians: Pacifika, Buika, Adele, Aimee Mann, Neil Young, The Glands, early Liz Phair, Me'Shell Ndegéocello, Jarabedepalo, Bird York, Van Morrison; pop, and alternative for hanging out; electronica, hip hop and disco for the gym; Zero Seven and Nightmares on Wax (the Smoker’s Delight album) for sex—but I’m not as picky as I sound.

There’s a local cello/clarinet/piano trio I enjoy live once in while. Jazz, I like early Miles Davis, and when I need non-lyricized dreamy background music, John Barry movie soundtracks (Dances with Wolves, Out of Africa).

Favorite movies: I’ve watched Win/Win several times on cable, and loved Bernie, with Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine, last weekend. Going back further and jumping around in time: The Road (which I watched over and over, muting the more violent parts until I could watch it in its entirety without blinking—I’m fascinated by the resiliency of kindness in that post-apocalyptic environment).

Also, To Kill a Mockingbird, On the Waterfront (the soundtrack by Leonard Bernstein is exquisite and I adore the young Eva Marie Saint), Blade Runner (which matters most: who we are, or who we think we are?), The Wizard of Oz (Auntie Em reminds me of my grandmother), Bridget Jones Diary, Alien, lots more.

Favorite websites: I feel appreciative of Wikipedia and respect Open Source websites in general though I don’t seek them out. Sounds really commercial but I also like wandering around YouTube, looking at old Kids in the Hall episodes, and recently, archived stuff like interviews with Janis Joplin on Dick Cavett.

And then I hear about websites from friends, like underwaternewyork.com, which elicits stories and poems about objects found in the waterways around NYC; not just ship wreck-type stuff but the skeleton of a giraffe; there are all kinds of surprises under the surface.

Favorite TV shows: Recent cable series I’m hooked on include Nurse Jackie, Game of Thrones and Girls.

Chocolate, Vanilla, or ALL the flavors? Wouldn’t rule any of them out, but depends on my mood.

A silly thing you do when no one is watching: I talk to the cat and make up names for her: Pot Roast, Big Head/Little Body, Possum. I tell her if she isn’t nice, she’s going to make a very nice toilet seat cover for me someday.

What is your pet peeve? People who don’t have an indoor voice.

Favorite curse word: God-fucking-dammit

Favorite magazine: National Geographic, The New Yorker, Poetry, The Same, 2 Bridges Review, Hanging Loose (my favorites in literary magazines is always changing).

A culture that intrigues you: I’m curious about little subcultures in New York City, like the jump rope culture (bucket list item: Double Dutch competition in Brooklyn), and I don’t know if “intrigue” is the right word, but I’m fascinated by counter cultures like the (now defunct), Shakers, who didn’t marry, and made huge rocking cribs for sick adults in their community. I’m also interested in the cultures of certain institutions, corporate cultures and cultures of other groups, including those centered on sexuality, like butch/femme culture.

Do you like to dance? I am a wild and happy albeit not particularly talented dancer.

If you could change a law which would it be? Any law that is based in religion, like not being to sell alcohol on Sunday, I would like to see abolished.

Do you collect anything? Books of poetry (I give fiction away). And I guess you could say ankle boots. I don’t feel that comfortable with collecting stuff, and because I've moved so much in the last 13 years, it’s more reassuring to lighten, rather than deepen my footprint.

If you could travel back in time, which year would you visit, and
why? I’d like to take a little vacation in the 12th century or so, with a non-violent, pre-Columbian, pre-Aztec/Incan, matrilineal group of people like the Arawak or Taino; mild weather, fresh fish and fruit, plenty of resources to go around, habitats that smell sweetly of bundles of grass, art making and story telling both highly respected endeavors—any group like that, in some beautiful place near the equator, before Western Europeans mucked it all up.

I’d also like to go to New Guinea and see the (now extinct) Tasmanian Wolf or to North America when passenger pigeons would pass overhead in flocks so thick they blocked the sun, or the Galapagos, before tourists, when the animals were curious and unafraid.

I’d really like to travel back in time to see early humans, too, like the period of time when Neanderthals and Homosapiens were in Europe at the same time. I’d like to watch them interact, members from the two groups. Were they curious about each other? Wary about each other?

Would you ever have plastic surgery? Sure.

Your idea of a good meal: Healthy and tasty, not labor intensive, but involving some chopping (which I enjoy), and prepared in a familiar and colorful kitchen with someone I love, both of us barefoot, the windows open, a breeze from the garden slipping through, a bottle of wine on the counter. We’re sharing music we just found, switching around on an IPod on the counter, and neither of us has to get up early, and everyone in our lives is okay for at least that one day. That is my idea of a really, really good meal.

If you could be invisible, where would you go, what would you do and what would you want to see? I’d like to go to a butch-only event, and see what they’re like when we’re not around.

Introvert or extrovert: I’m a high-functioning introvert.

Dream profession: Something that combines reading and writing poetry, dog training, and brainstorming to advise venture capitalists how to humanely spend their money. (You did say “dream.”)

What are your Hobbies: Bike riding, travel, museums, street fairs, online shopping for wrap dresses and skirts.

Do you have Phobias, what are they? No, I don’t have any.

Do you believe in past lives? No.

What do you get complemented on most often? My words. After that, how I look.

What frustrates you most often about your body, ruling out weight as an acceptable answer? My eyes keep getting worse.

If given the magical gift to make three global changes, what would they be? Return the oceans to their healthiest state, redistribute all the world’s resources so no one suffers or starves, force manufacturers to stop destroying lives and the environment.

If you could walk in the shoes of one person for a day, whose shoes would you choose? I’d like to walk in the shoes of a truly happy person for one day, to see how they respond to adversity and emerge triumphant, or at peace.

Describe your religious / spiritual beliefs, if any. I am a secular humanist. I don’t believe in a god, an afterlife, past lives, or spirits. That said, I believe humans communicate with each other in metaphysical ways we are not capable of measuring, and our relationship with time is more complicated than our physiology allows us to know. Finally, in case I am not sounding like enough of a crackpot I will just add this: I think it’s reasonable to assume alien life forms exist and even hang out a bit, on Earth.

Do you generally feel understood? No.

Would you sacrifice your life if you could save the lives of ten
thousand others? What a question! Since I think it’s intended to measure selflessness, I’ll just cut to the chase and say, Yes I’m selfless, but not to the point of self-destructiveness—and I often get something back when I give of myself, whether it’s to see someone I care about, be happy, or to later realize, they’ve got my back because I once had theirs.

I’m also assuming this question is intended to measure empathy and social consciousness, survival of the individual versus survival of the group, so I’ll also say Yes, I’m extremely empathetic. I couldn’t be a writer, if I weren’t. And my conscience leads me to protect the individual, because no group exists without individuals.

Biggest concern about aging: Having no one to talk to, especially in bed at night, before falling asleep.

What were you like in high school? Withdrawn, fearless, unconventional, cynical, curious about everything, wary, affectionate, highly creative.

Is the idea of marriage appealing to you? Yes. I would be good at it. I’m both a devoted and independent partner, and particularly suited to the cozy, home-building aspects of marriage.

Issues that you feel most passionate about: Fairness, in whatever form that takes: economic fairness, academic fairness, social fairness.

The person whose opinion matters the most to you: My own.


PART II: LOVE/SEXUALITY

Sexual orientation: Lesbian.

How do you identify yourself (if you use and identity): Femme

Current relationship status: I’m not available. (And I apologize if that sounds presumptuous.)

What you look for in a partner: Loyalty. Playfulness. Sparkly, steady braininess (spacing out, in that context, is A-OK with me). Optimism. Sexual adventurousness. Kindness. Someone with a distinctly unusual approach to life’s choices, and an innovative problem solver. A forgiving sort who does good in the world, and is patient with me.

The "type" of person you tend to attract: Tops of all types. I also apparently have an unintentional and magical ability to attract a person’s exes back to her.

Number of times you've been in love: Three.

What surprised you most the first time you fell in love? How much braver it made me feel, about everything else in my life.

Monogamy or polyamory: I can date more than one person at a time, but once I start having flashes of love for a person (flashes that eventually occur closer together, till it’s like a solid light in me), I automatically lose interest in anyone else.

Who would you have in your arms right now if it could be anybody in the world? Someone who loves me.

Have you ever had a long-distance relationship? Yes, with someone in Provincetown. We weren’t suited for the long-term but we had great fun.

Have you ever had a successful long-term relationship with someone you met online? Yes.

Age when you had your first kiss: 15

Describe your best kiss: Penn Station. Waiting with her for her train, and we’d never kissed before. Standing at the top of the stairs after her train has been announced, everyone rushing around us to catch the train, and I turn to face her, nuzzle against her shirt, stretch up, balancing myself by holding her arm, and kiss her on the mouth. I couldn’t stop myself.

Describe your last kiss: Can’t remember.

What are you most physically attracted to in a woman? Her voice, how she moves through a space crowded with other people, how she looks at me. Also, her shoulders, height, back of the neck a little bristly, an intentional way of touching me.

What trait in a woman turns you off? Talking over me and misunderstanding me (sounds like two traits but they often are interwoven).


PART III: SEX

What are you self-conscious about naked? A few more pounds I have yet to lose, about six or seven. (Yeah, I know, I’m hard on myself.)

When making love, making out, or just fucking etc. do you like the lights on or off? Low lights. I like to show off a little.

Three things a person has done to you in a making-out or sexual
situation that really turned you on: 1) Started with lots of making out—in my kitchen, leaning against the window sill, on the couch, up against the wall in my bedroom. 2) Responded to my touch, seemed very turned on by the way I touched her. 3) Sensed my trust at some point and took over from there.

Three things a person has done to you in a making-out or sexual
situation that turned you off: 1) Insisted in having a really bright goose-neck lamp trained on the bed; I felt like I was in the OR being poked at by aliens. 2) Said to me, “You taste like honey”—corny and nonsensical metaphor. If you’re going to BS me, at least be inventive. 3) Making girlie noises when she was close to coming; no please don’t do that.

Have you ever taken naked pics/videos of yourself? No.

Do you have any Fetishes: No.

BDSM: yes or no? Open, with someone I trusted.

Have you ever had a one-night stand? Yes.

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