Interview!
Apr. 29th, 2005 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorpMan I love these interviews. This one's from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
oxlahun:
1. Back atcha; give me a different Wal-Mart answer.
I would not set foot in a Wal-Mart unless I had absolutely no other choice. Like once when Jen and I were vacationing in the Hocking Hills, we were in a small town where Wal-Mart was the only store to buy groceries. That was a pain. But my answer to my own question was that I would give Wal-Mart the finger and give my money to a struggling local businessperson.
2. You andsmurfbrother seem to have a pretty good relationship now, but I assume you fought as kids like every other normal pair of siblings. What's one instance that was totally traumatic to you at the time, but just seems funny now?
He spent my entire childhood beating the crap out of me, which was certainly not at all funny at the time. But if we're talking trauma here, the most recent one I can think of was in 1995 when I was living on his couch in Amherst. I can't for the life of me remember what we argued about to begin with, but he told me to pack up my crap and leave. So I calledlorac and told her to come get me, and I started packing my stuff. He came out of his room and asked me what I was doing, and I told him. And we argued some more, mostly him saying I was stupid which I took as meaning he didn't really want me to leave. ;) It now sounds like some scene out of a sitcom, but I was really REALLY hurt and devastated. I'm sure he was too.
3. What's your favorite hairstyle that you've had but will likely never do again?
When I had really long hair, it was incredibly pretty hair. It was long, and thick, and wavy, and shiny, and dark. It would be really incredible hair - on someone else. On me, I end up looking 13 years old and I don't like that.
This was a tough question to answer because I'd probably do most of my hairstyles again. The ones I liked, anyway. I haven't had many hairstyles. :)
4. Sex and gender both make for interesting demographic data, but only if there's a finite list of choices. Most people who are sensitive to the issue would say we should just expand the lists (where "list" may mean checkbox, or labels on bathroom doors, or whatever). But even just a choice for "other" seems to me that it sets up a far greater potential for social problems - extreme minority, separate but equal, &c. What's an (not "the", just "an") answer, given that we can't snap our fingers and fix ignorance and hatred? Give up on this kind of info already? Even in places that are actually trying to help (e.g. big gay job)?
Well, for starters, there's no reason at all, really, why we need to have separate bathrooms. We can solve the whole bathroom debate by simply having plain old bathrooms.
I agree that adding a category called 'other' causes waaaay more problems than it helps. While I think the collection of demographic data (not just related to sex/gender) is completely overused, I think that sometimes it serves a purpose. And I don't see why gender can't be a write-in as opposed to a check-box. Most (not all, but most) sexes can fall into the categories of 'male,' 'female,' and 'intersex' if need be, but gender is a different matter entirely.
So to end all of this babbling, I'd say get rid of the demographic overkill, and allow for gender to be a write-in. Skip sex, unless it's a biological survey. Too many people confuse sex and gender, and use 'sex' when they really want 'gender' and vice versa.
5. One more light one, to try to balance that out: what's your favorite ring-shaped cereal? Has this changed over time?
Hmm. I'm having trouble coming up with ring-shaped cereals. I think my favorite is probably store-brand knock-off apple cinnamon cheerios. When I was a kid I probably would have said Froot Loops. Really sugary cereals like Froot Loops totally chew up the roof of my mouth, though.
Anyone else?
oxlahun:1. Back atcha; give me a different Wal-Mart answer.
I would not set foot in a Wal-Mart unless I had absolutely no other choice. Like once when Jen and I were vacationing in the Hocking Hills, we were in a small town where Wal-Mart was the only store to buy groceries. That was a pain. But my answer to my own question was that I would give Wal-Mart the finger and give my money to a struggling local businessperson.
2. You and
smurfbrother seem to have a pretty good relationship now, but I assume you fought as kids like every other normal pair of siblings. What's one instance that was totally traumatic to you at the time, but just seems funny now?He spent my entire childhood beating the crap out of me, which was certainly not at all funny at the time. But if we're talking trauma here, the most recent one I can think of was in 1995 when I was living on his couch in Amherst. I can't for the life of me remember what we argued about to begin with, but he told me to pack up my crap and leave. So I called
lorac and told her to come get me, and I started packing my stuff. He came out of his room and asked me what I was doing, and I told him. And we argued some more, mostly him saying I was stupid which I took as meaning he didn't really want me to leave. ;) It now sounds like some scene out of a sitcom, but I was really REALLY hurt and devastated. I'm sure he was too.3. What's your favorite hairstyle that you've had but will likely never do again?
When I had really long hair, it was incredibly pretty hair. It was long, and thick, and wavy, and shiny, and dark. It would be really incredible hair - on someone else. On me, I end up looking 13 years old and I don't like that.
This was a tough question to answer because I'd probably do most of my hairstyles again. The ones I liked, anyway. I haven't had many hairstyles. :)
4. Sex and gender both make for interesting demographic data, but only if there's a finite list of choices. Most people who are sensitive to the issue would say we should just expand the lists (where "list" may mean checkbox, or labels on bathroom doors, or whatever). But even just a choice for "other" seems to me that it sets up a far greater potential for social problems - extreme minority, separate but equal, &c. What's an (not "the", just "an") answer, given that we can't snap our fingers and fix ignorance and hatred? Give up on this kind of info already? Even in places that are actually trying to help (e.g. big gay job)?
Well, for starters, there's no reason at all, really, why we need to have separate bathrooms. We can solve the whole bathroom debate by simply having plain old bathrooms.
I agree that adding a category called 'other' causes waaaay more problems than it helps. While I think the collection of demographic data (not just related to sex/gender) is completely overused, I think that sometimes it serves a purpose. And I don't see why gender can't be a write-in as opposed to a check-box. Most (not all, but most) sexes can fall into the categories of 'male,' 'female,' and 'intersex' if need be, but gender is a different matter entirely.
So to end all of this babbling, I'd say get rid of the demographic overkill, and allow for gender to be a write-in. Skip sex, unless it's a biological survey. Too many people confuse sex and gender, and use 'sex' when they really want 'gender' and vice versa.
5. One more light one, to try to balance that out: what's your favorite ring-shaped cereal? Has this changed over time?
Hmm. I'm having trouble coming up with ring-shaped cereals. I think my favorite is probably store-brand knock-off apple cinnamon cheerios. When I was a kid I probably would have said Froot Loops. Really sugary cereals like Froot Loops totally chew up the roof of my mouth, though.
Anyone else?
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-29 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-29 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-29 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-30 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-01 12:17 am (UTC)What's there to love about Boston?
Date: 2005-04-29 10:46 pm (UTC)2. What's the best place in Boston to take kids where it's not too noisy, or too crowded and doesn't cost a gazillion dollars a person?
3. Where's the nicest walk/path in Boston and what kind of shoes should I wear to go there?
4. You have an entire weekend to yourself (no Jen, no friends) what's the one thing at the top of your list you absolutely have to do?
5. If you could move to anyplace in Boston, where would you pick and why?
Re: What's there to love about Boston?
Date: 2005-05-03 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-30 07:05 pm (UTC)Earlham Hall, one of the dorms where I went to school, had de facto unisex bathrooms (i.e., they said "men" and "women" but people went to whichever). No one I knew had a problem with it. FWIW, the placement of the urinals in the "men's" did limit any unwanted dick visibility.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-01 04:10 pm (UTC)I worked games at an indoor facility yesterday, and the main bathroom on the ground floor, you walk in, and make an immediate 180 to the urinals. The problem is, the backwall was where the sinks and mirrors were. And the door was propped open half the time. Hello! Don't turn around before you're fully zipped up, that's for sure.
Also—and I'm talking about locker rooms now, so more of a changing area than just a restroom—but the YMCA in Cary had four sets of locker rooms: adult men, boys, adult women, and girls. (I can't remember what they did about small children who would have needed adult assistance.)
no subject
Date: 2005-05-03 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-03 01:08 am (UTC)