Steph's Interview
Thanks Steph, for the interview questions! Very well done - they gave me a lot to think about.
1. What are the best and worst things about living in your relatively new home of Orlando, Florida?
Let me begin the answer to this question by stating that there were two places that I thought I’d never live. The first was California, and the second was Florida. It wasn’t something I dwelt on, or something I would have necessarily verbalized, but as a mid-westerner, California and Florida were too different. One is the west coast, the other way south, neither have seasons, and both can grow tropical fruit. I ventured to California because of school and after 4 years of dark, cold and brutal Minnesota winters, I was glad for the milder climate. Meeting the love of my life (awe shucks) changed my perspective, and knowing that Talia has a better chance of being healthy in a climate like Florida (not to mention that it offered her a great job) makes being here worth it. Orlando is somewhat of a disappointment after Minneapolis, and then Berkeley. It’s conservative, but in a different way than the mid-west. It’s transient, not deeply-rooted. Much of the population was not born here (although most of the lower-income folk I work with as a case worker were born and raised in Orlando). It’s a youngish city – in that not that many years ago it was orange groves. It has Disney, it’s tourist-ville, it’s still 1-2 hours away from the beach going either east or west.
So, I would say….Best – by far the weather. It gets hot, yes, but I can do hot easier than cold. When it rains, it pours, and then it’s done raining unlike Berkeley when it can drizzle consistently for days on end. Worst – we haven’t found our community yet. The church is great, but it’s also Talia’s work. We haven’t been able to find a group of friends our age that we click with. It’s been a struggle.
2. Insofar as it's not too personal, what kind of spiritual practices do you do?
In Minnesota I did martial arts. Here, I can’t afford the $90/month fee it would cost to continue that practice. Unlike some other physical practices, you can’t do martial arts solo…In seminary I had a community that did dance as a spiritual practice. I loved this as well – I do spirituality best with physical action. Also, during seminary I did writing as a spiritual practice. That became too expensive as well because my best writing came out of being part of a group (which you paid to be a part of), and I have a really hard time willing myself in the …space…for lack of a better word, that I need to be in, in order to create. I tried pottery for a few months, but it was a bit too stressful for me to be considered spiritual.
These days I lack in the spiritual department. It’s a catch 22 – I get too overwhelmed/depressed to form a spiritual practice. I am overwhelmed/depressed in part because I do not have a regular spiritual practice. I have been going to church regularly. Mainly because Talia is a minister, but also because I enjoy the church. I enjoy the music, I enjoy the sermons, I enjoy the people for the most part. I don’t know if I would consider church a spiritual practice though.
I also enjoy rote tasks – soon after moving here I stripped and refinished a dresser and a vanity. It was incredibly rewarding – physically, aesthetically and spirituality. I enjoy wood-working. I make art out of wood periodically as well.
3. You have the funding to create the retreat center of your dreams. What do you do?
Yay! First I would quit my jobs. Then Talia and I would design a space, with the input of the people who would benefit from it. My vision would be that it would be accessible – in terms of location, and in terms of cost. The population would be focused on youth, (but not exclusively) the goal would be creativity. There would be visual arts, dance, theater, digital art, pottery, wood, stone, etc. art, creative writing, music, whatever. It would be a place where expressing oneself uniquely would be ok. It would have a spiritual basis, it would be a place of self-empowerment. I am all about self-empowerment through creativity. It would always be in process.
4. What's your relationship to gender pronouns?
Gender pronouns make me on edge. I hear them. How do I explain it? Go back to when you were in Jr. High and think of an unrequited crush you had. Think of how you honed into any conversation happening anywhere in the room when that person’s name was mentioned. That’s how I am with gender pronouns. I somehow don’t have the capacity to let them go. They are confrontational, annoying and unevolved. I wrote a brilliant paper I never had the guts to try and publish, calling the feminist movement into account for not allowing gender to evolve by keeping it in a binary system. Our society doesn’t allow for a binary anything any more. It’s clear on so many levels. Why should gender be exempt?
5. Again, insofar as it's not too personal, do you have any new perspectives on testosterone to share since you started having more of it?
I am not sure, yet, how to answer this. Instead of holding off until I can come up with a good answer, I am posting this now a week after initially writing it...
1. What are the best and worst things about living in your relatively new home of Orlando, Florida?
Let me begin the answer to this question by stating that there were two places that I thought I’d never live. The first was California, and the second was Florida. It wasn’t something I dwelt on, or something I would have necessarily verbalized, but as a mid-westerner, California and Florida were too different. One is the west coast, the other way south, neither have seasons, and both can grow tropical fruit. I ventured to California because of school and after 4 years of dark, cold and brutal Minnesota winters, I was glad for the milder climate. Meeting the love of my life (awe shucks) changed my perspective, and knowing that Talia has a better chance of being healthy in a climate like Florida (not to mention that it offered her a great job) makes being here worth it. Orlando is somewhat of a disappointment after Minneapolis, and then Berkeley. It’s conservative, but in a different way than the mid-west. It’s transient, not deeply-rooted. Much of the population was not born here (although most of the lower-income folk I work with as a case worker were born and raised in Orlando). It’s a youngish city – in that not that many years ago it was orange groves. It has Disney, it’s tourist-ville, it’s still 1-2 hours away from the beach going either east or west.
So, I would say….Best – by far the weather. It gets hot, yes, but I can do hot easier than cold. When it rains, it pours, and then it’s done raining unlike Berkeley when it can drizzle consistently for days on end. Worst – we haven’t found our community yet. The church is great, but it’s also Talia’s work. We haven’t been able to find a group of friends our age that we click with. It’s been a struggle.
2. Insofar as it's not too personal, what kind of spiritual practices do you do?
In Minnesota I did martial arts. Here, I can’t afford the $90/month fee it would cost to continue that practice. Unlike some other physical practices, you can’t do martial arts solo…In seminary I had a community that did dance as a spiritual practice. I loved this as well – I do spirituality best with physical action. Also, during seminary I did writing as a spiritual practice. That became too expensive as well because my best writing came out of being part of a group (which you paid to be a part of), and I have a really hard time willing myself in the …space…for lack of a better word, that I need to be in, in order to create. I tried pottery for a few months, but it was a bit too stressful for me to be considered spiritual.
These days I lack in the spiritual department. It’s a catch 22 – I get too overwhelmed/depressed to form a spiritual practice. I am overwhelmed/depressed in part because I do not have a regular spiritual practice. I have been going to church regularly. Mainly because Talia is a minister, but also because I enjoy the church. I enjoy the music, I enjoy the sermons, I enjoy the people for the most part. I don’t know if I would consider church a spiritual practice though.
I also enjoy rote tasks – soon after moving here I stripped and refinished a dresser and a vanity. It was incredibly rewarding – physically, aesthetically and spirituality. I enjoy wood-working. I make art out of wood periodically as well.
3. You have the funding to create the retreat center of your dreams. What do you do?
Yay! First I would quit my jobs. Then Talia and I would design a space, with the input of the people who would benefit from it. My vision would be that it would be accessible – in terms of location, and in terms of cost. The population would be focused on youth, (but not exclusively) the goal would be creativity. There would be visual arts, dance, theater, digital art, pottery, wood, stone, etc. art, creative writing, music, whatever. It would be a place where expressing oneself uniquely would be ok. It would have a spiritual basis, it would be a place of self-empowerment. I am all about self-empowerment through creativity. It would always be in process.
4. What's your relationship to gender pronouns?
Gender pronouns make me on edge. I hear them. How do I explain it? Go back to when you were in Jr. High and think of an unrequited crush you had. Think of how you honed into any conversation happening anywhere in the room when that person’s name was mentioned. That’s how I am with gender pronouns. I somehow don’t have the capacity to let them go. They are confrontational, annoying and unevolved. I wrote a brilliant paper I never had the guts to try and publish, calling the feminist movement into account for not allowing gender to evolve by keeping it in a binary system. Our society doesn’t allow for a binary anything any more. It’s clear on so many levels. Why should gender be exempt?
5. Again, insofar as it's not too personal, do you have any new perspectives on testosterone to share since you started having more of it?
I am not sure, yet, how to answer this. Instead of holding off until I can come up with a good answer, I am posting this now a week after initially writing it...
posted by Gade at 10:39 PM
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