Your most marked characteristic? Interiority — the inability to escape my own mind.
The quality you most like in a man? Humor.
The quality you most like in a woman? Energy.
What do you most value in your friends? Tolerance.
What is your principle defect? Failures of mindfulness.
What is your favorite occupation? Writing.
What is your dream of happiness? Honest love from a good person. Harder to come by than I had thought it would be when I was younger.
What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes? To end up like my maternal grandmother: cognizant, but unable to move.
What would you like to be? A person who can be taken seriously, but who does not let that make him serious.
In what country would you like to live? I haven’t seen enough of them to say for sure. I’m fascinated by Australia.
What is your favorite color? A rich, radiant blue.
What is your favorite flower? I don’t really know flowers. There’s a purple one that grew in my front yard in Portland, but I don’t know what it’s called.
What is your favorite bird? The poor, maligned crow.
Who are your favorite prose writers? Kurt Vonnegut, Michael Chabon, Virginia Woolf, Michael Ondaatje.
Who are your favorite poets? W. H. Auden, Paul Celan, Anne Carson.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Daniel Waterhouse & Jack Shaftoe (The Baroque Cycle), Arthur Dent (Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Who are your favorite heroines of fiction? Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ginny Weasley
Who are your favorite composers? Philip Glass, J. S. Bach, Aphex Twin
Who are your favorite painters? I don’t know from painters.
Who are your heroes in real life? This is a hard question to answer. “In real life”? As in, people I’ve met? Most heroes turn out to be sadly human once you encounter them. I admire anyone who can live a life of contentment, and anyone who can take real risks.
Who are your favorite heroines of history? Ruth (from the Book of Ruth); Princess Caroline of Ansbach
What are your favorite names? Madeline; Nebuchadnezzar
What is it you most dislike? Disproportion in love.
What historical figures do you most despise? Oh, Hitler. Oliver Cromwell. Anyone who outlawed music or dancing.
What event in military history do you most admire? Urp. All I can think of right now are failures (Pickett’s Charge) and atrocities (atom bomb). Wars are neither glorious nor admirable, I don’t think.
What reform do you most admire? The abolition of slavery comes to mind.
What natural gift would you most like to possess? I’d love to be able to sing like Sam Cooke.
How would you like to die? Very old, in my sleep, outdoors.
What is your present state of mind? The twilight where sadness turns to anger.
To what faults do you feel most indulgent? Gluttony.
What is your motto? “And when we break / we wait for our miracle”
