Stolen from Tom
1) What was the scariest thing in the world to you when you were a kid? Does it still scare you now? When I was really little, I went through a period where I was terrified of escalators. It wasn't the motion, it was the sharp points on the steps. They looked like teeth. Every once in a while, as I step onto an escalator, I flash back to being that little girl and it gives me pause.
2)
Imagine your 12-year-old daughter (or granddaughter) is hosting a
sleepover at your home. A sudden storm knocks out cellphone service,
wifi and cable. How would you keep these suddenly unplugged pre-teens
entertained? We'd play The Story Game. The first girl begins by writing two lines of a story, but folds the paper so that only the second line shows. The second girl continues the story, based only what she can see. She writes two lines and again, folds the paper so only her second line shows. You go around the table and by the time you're done you have a very silly story that will make all the girls laugh. If my personal history is any indicator, they will likely want to do this again and again.
3) What piece of movie or TV memorabilia would you love to own? Roy Hobbs' Wonder Boy bat from The Natural.
4) You are gifted with the services of a personal assistant for four hours. What would you ask your assistant to do? Please restore order to my den! I just throw stuff in there, close the door, and pretend it's not there. I need help!
5) If literary characters were real, which one would you like to interview, and what would you ask? Either one of these two women. By the end of Gone with the Wind they were both so real to me that I have questions. Mostly I'd ask them their attitudes toward slavery. I have a feeling that Scarlett didn't care about it – she was so apolitical and incurious about the world that she accepted it without weighing the moral implications. I suspect she had less trouble adapting to The Reconstruction than Melly did. How could Melanie, the one who was always so good and always saw the best in everyone, wholeheartedly support The Glorious Cause? How could she square the circle of slavery with her Christian beliefs? Let's talk, Ladies. Maybe it would help me understand the fetish some Southerners still have for the Confederacy today.
