Category: general

Interview with JenB / JenandTonic.ca

Very rarely in life do you meet someone that you instantly know will be your friend. It’s only happened to me a couple of times during my adult life, so when I met JenB and got that tingle in my toes, I wanted to giggle and do a little jig. And here’s the thing about JenB: everyone feels that way when they meet her. She is genuine and authentic and sweet and full of love. She’s also strong and opinionated and not afraid to hold her ground or go after injustice on behalf of herself and her friends.

I realize that this is not my usual intro. I’m hardly mentioning that JenB lives in Canada and says words like oot and aboot. I’m barely adding that she’s married with kid and cats and is public about her struggle with mental illness and medication. I think that’s because JenB is so much more than any of that. Quite simply, she’s just herself. And also because I feel the chances of me doing her justice in this little two-paragraph intro is so very slight that I’d rather just tell you that I count her as a friend.

Blog Birthday:

August 22, 2002. A day before my wedding anniversary which is not relevant, but hey!

Why do you blog?

Because holding a shotgun in a bell tower doesn’t last for very long and I have a lot to say.

What do you talk about?

Me, mundane everyday life stuff, tv, my kid, annoying family stuff to a point, shoes, the occasional social issue which rankles my shackles.

What don’t you talk about? Why?

My marriage. Off limits for the sake of having said marriage.

Best experience regarding something you wrote in your blog or put out on the net?

The best has been connecting with other women and talking about struggles with anxiety, depression, body image issues, parenting, cooking, tv, and shoes.

Favorite/worst thing about living where you live?

SNOW! FUCKING SNOW and how long it lasts.

If you were president of the US:

Then they would have successfully passed a law that says non-American citizens can be president. I would want the job, but if forced, I would be a huge socialist red commie giving out healthcare and education until the cows came home.

What actor would play you in the movie of your life?

No idea – that guy who plays Hurley on LOST maybe…..

What do you do to stay sane and healthy?

Honestly, right now I am neither, but trying. But I have great support from my parents and husband and my friends here in town and the ones I know through blogging. Oh, and medication.

Would you mind telling people a little about your struggle with mental illness? Why are you public about it on your blog?

My blog is partially, (well a lot really) therapy for me. Getting feedback and support from others is incredible. I don’t know if I can adequately describe how fantastic sharing my struggles through the blog has become.

Any advice for the thousands of parents dealing with depression and medications?

See a psychiatrist, not just your general practitioner. I read about a lot of people getting new meds from their regular doctor and I cringe. It is like going to a plumber for your pap test. Sort of. Medication can help you. Don’t be afraid. You can always go off. Try it, its good for you. I really believe that going on my first antidepressant (reluctantly at 19), saved my life.

Favorite color:

Greens and blues. Soothing I think.

Favorite food:

Very changeable. Currently it is whole-wheat tortilla chips with cheesy chili con queso goo sold in jars.

When you were 10, what did you want to do when you grew up?

A teacher I think. I wasn’t very passionate about being anything until I was way older.

Do you parent the same way you were parented?

I think so. I think I practice a half-assed method of attachment parenting. My parents were very live and let live. They trusted me to entertain myself and didn’t ask a lot about my grades or social life. I read a lot.

What do you hate?

Hate. Cruelty to humans and animals. Food.

What do you love?

Family and friends. Kitties and babies. Good books, good television, good movies. Food.

What do you want to tell other bloggers, if anything?

Be nice, be gentle. To yourselves and others. Give the benefit of the doubt to other people, ALWAYS. Be the bigger person, apologize first. Write.

Astounding facts about you:

errrm. I can touch my nose with my tongue. I was once punched unconscious and had an awesome black eye. I love cemeteries.

Are you Windows or Mac? Why?

Windows. Unless having an iPod counts. I was actually religiously into Macs until I got a job that didn’t use them and married a guy who knew nothing about them. I believe I never would have been interested in technology had I not bought a Mac in 1987. A Mac SE30. If it were not for Macintosh computers I would have had a very different career, probably not met my husband or had a blog. Seriously.

How would your family describe you?

My mom would call me a “worrywart”, funny, creative, someone who struggles. I think my dad would say the same but add smart. I am not really sure. I have NO idea what my brother would say. None.

I’d love a parenting tip, please.

Take time for yourself and don’t be a fucking martyr – can I swear on here? (Ed note: Hells yes.) No one likes a “poor” me parent or spouse.

What is one of your favorite memories?

Hiding next to the bed as a kid waiting for my dad to get home and then jumping on him when he came in to take off his suit jacket. He would always pretend to be surprised. My brother and dad and I broke my parent’s bed more times than I can remember from such assaults.

Do you cook?

Yes, quite well if I do say so. I am a good maker upper as I go along. I don’t cook as much since having the kid (Charlotte, almost 3). I love to bake as well, like Christmas baking. Decadent stuff with lots of chocolate and butter.

What are you working on right now?

Keeping my shit together. I am not sure I have the presence of mind right now for a project. I have helped on BlogHer in the past and would love to be more involved. I need to be better organized and less crazy, like literally less crazy. I really enjoyed working with StyleHive.

Your own favorite post? And/or your favorite post of someone else?

I like this post and maybe this one? One of my favourite posts of others is this one of Alice’s. There are so many good writers out there I could spend a lot of time finding posts I love. When Heather (Dooce) was going through her depression after Leta was born I was right there with her. It was painful, for her, I am certain, but an amazing experience to share with someone.

What will you being doing next year?

Same old I suspect. I am happy being a 1950s housewife for the moment. Eventually I will have to figure out what else I should be doing when Charlotte goes to University or Pre-school, or whatever. I would love to be involved in something collaborative that helps other people. Online or off. How vague is that??

Tell me a secret?

I once had sex in a pickup truck in front of my old apartment (way before I knew my husband *kisses* dear) with a guy I met through a dating service. It goes without saying that I was really really drunk.

What do you wish I had asked you that I didn’t?

I dunno, but I often feel compelled to tell people my entire psychiatric diagnosis in case they don’t want to be friends with a crazy person and that I am fat. I guess people can read the blog and decide for themselves. You have been warned.

Thanks, Jen!

Interview with Meg Hourihan / Megnut.com

Meg Hourihan of Megnut.com went All Food All the Time in 2006 and is a self-proclaimed food enthusiast. Her recipes are some of the best I’ve found for Brussels Sprouts and Apple Crisp. My favorite of her recipes is her Grandma Pete’s Stuffing which calls for the secret step of ‘following the directions on the store bought box.’ That, Dear Reader, is a recipe I can follow.

Meg’s insights into sustainability and local organic eating are excellent and she frequently links to all kinds of points of view, not just her own, giving the reader the benefit of the doubt in the brains department. Isn’t that nice?

You can read some of Meg’s less frequent and older updates here and older columns at O’Reilly. Meg was named one of PC Magazine’s People of the Year in 2004 and currently lives in New York with her husband, Jason Kottke.

Blog Birthday:

May 2, 1999 (yikes!)

Why do you blog?

That answer has changed for me over time. Initially it was an outlet for me to get things off my chest, and it grew into something related to work when I was building Blogger. It became almost part of the job, but in a very positive sense, because I believed in the potential of blogging so much.

After I left the company in 2001, my blog grew very silent for a long time because I felt I couldn’t really write about what I was experiencing. As time passed, the site’s audience grew and I felt less comfortable with revelatory writing. By last 2004/early 2005 I wasn’t sure the blog would really make it. I didn’t have anything to say there anymore.

Once I decided towards the end of 2005 that I wanted to change its focus to food, I really found my voice again. I was able to write regularly about something I was passionate about, without having to make it too personal or all about me. Now I’m really enjoying it again.

What do you talk about?

Food, anything and all things slightly related to food in the broadest sense. Whatever catches my eye.

What don’t you talk about? Why?

I don’t talk about my personal life, though small parts of it seep through in the food writing. But Megnut is not a journal.

Best experience regarding something you wrote in your blog or put out on the net?

I’d have to say the best experience was when I wrote about a crush I got on someone at SXSW 2000. I posted on my site about it and as it happens, the object of my crush emailed me about it, wondering who it was. I told him it was him, and well, six years later, we’re married.

Favorite/worst thing about living where you live?

I love living in New York City. I love the variety of people I see everyday on the streets and on the subway, so much diversity and activity. No one is weird in NY because everyone is weird. Strange outfits. Crazy people talking to themselves. And yet, people are so friendly and helpful. I love knowing about secret pockets of the city, hidden little parks, the great unknown burger at my favorite diner. Walking the streets in the spring and seeing wisteria vines four stories high along the front of an old townhouse. Of course, it can be dirty and crowded, and sometimes it’s too much when people are bumping into me and I just want to get something at the store on the way home from work. Sometime the city makes me crazy and I just want to yell at people. You see that a lot, people just yelling at each other. There are certain rules, necessary rules for so many people to get along in such a small space, and when they get broken, people tend to snap. (E.g. stopping in front of the subway entrance and blocking it.) When I feel that way, I know it’s time to take a break and get out of town for a bit.

If you were president of the US:

Oh jeez, that would be tough. I’m not naive enough anymore to say I’d give all defense money to the education department. But I do believe there’s a use for government, and we have a responsibility to take care of those unable to take care of themselves.

What actor would play you in the movie of your life?

Charlize Theron? I don’t know really, maybe someone undiscovered.

What is going on with food/diet/agriculture world that non-foodies should know about?

Right now there’s a big tension between small scale and industrial food production. Consumers in general want to buy humane, sustainably raised food. Organic originally seemed like the way to do that, but now large-scale producers are involved in organic. Wal-Mart recently announced plans to sell organic food. And a lot of that food will likely come from outside the US because it’ll be cheaper to grow in China and elsewhere. That’s really different than getting spinach from your local farmer’s market. The industrial production and centralized distribution, we see outbreaks of food poisoning (like the spinach e. coli outbreak last summer, and a recent salmonella outbreak). But Americans are accustomed to cheap food. Right now there’s trouble.

What can people do about the trouble we are in? How can people help? It seems like such a huge problem….

The first step is education, learn as much as possible about what the different labels actually mean, so that consumers understand what you get when you pay for organic. And how organic doesn’t necessarily mean humanely treated. Understand how the food is produced in this country and distributed. A great entry point is Michael Pollan‘s new book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”

And then once you’re more educated, you can get more active in your community. When you’re at the meat counter at the supermarket, ask about how the beef was raised, what it was fed. And express your concern for buying humanely-raised products. Support local farmers markets when they’re in season, and support local restaurants that use local, humane products as much as possible.

I know a lot of people complain about the costs of humanely-raised, and/or organic food. What I’ve done is really cut down on the amount of meat I eat, so I can ensure that when I do, it’s better quality. Rather than cheap battery-raised chicken breasts four or five times a week for dinner, I get one whole chicken at the farmer’s market that was free-range (though even that term doesn’t always mean what you’d think it means) and hormone free.

It takes a bit more work, but it can be done. As more people get educated and involved in food issues, we’ll see changes, and hopefully more pressure on our government to get food safety back in the spotlight.

What do you do to stay sane and healthy?

Workout, mostly jogging. I love to go running and do road races. Running is my alone time, when I work through whatever’s bothering me and on my mind. I feel great when I run.

When did you switch your blog over to food exclusively and why did you do it?

Officially I guess it was in late April, though I’d been mostly writing about food for about six months before that. I realized I loved food and wanted an outlet to explore it further. I’d spent some time working as a cook, but I didn’t want to go to culinary school. I still liked technology and the idea of starting companies. I realized I could convert my site to a food blog and run it as my own little food publishing start-up, just for myself, just for fun. I’ve learned more than I imagined and have met more people than I thought I would so quickly. It’s been wonderful.

What kinds of things are you look for when posting on your blog?

Anything that catches my eye. It can be funny, but often I want it to be informative in some way for my readers. What I don’t want it for it to be something they can find anywhere else, I’d like my site to be the source of new, interesting things.

Who are your food/chef heroes/ines?

Thomas Keller (chef of the French Laundry and Per Se) is probably my biggest, he was certainly the first. I also like restaurateur Danny Meyer here in NYC who prides himself on his hospitality. His restaurants are some of my favorites.

Favorite color:

Green

Favorite food:

One? Impossible. Right now I’m really into poached eggs, I love potato pancakes with sour cream and homemade applesauce. Fresh bacon, with is basically braised pork belly. A perfect french fry. This list could go on forever!

What are Three Things Every Kitchen Should Have?

1. A decent chef’s knife that’s kept sharp. You can cut pretty much anything with it.
2. Decent pots and pans. You don’t need a lot of them, but good quality ones will heat up faster and distribute heat evenly. They’ll make your life a lot better.
3. A KitchenAid stand mixer. This seems maybe excessive but you can use it for so much, especially if you like to bake. You can get so many attachments too, to roll pasta, to juice, to grind meat. You can make bread, ice cream, whip mashed potatoes. You name it, the KichenAid can do it. No serious kitchen should be without. My mother doesn’t have one and I hate trying to help with Christmas dinner at her house because of it. It makes it so much harder to do things.

When you were 10, what did you want to do when you grew up?

Huh, I don’t remember. Maybe an Olympic gymnast? When I was 12 I wanted to be a pediatric oncologist. I was really interested in discovering a cure for cancer. But I figured that by the time I’d be done with medical school, it would already be cured. If only that were true!

Are you still involved in non-food blogging? If not, do you miss it?

I’m not really. I have a Vox blog, but I don’t do much there. I do miss it occasionally, because I still have stuff I want to talk about and share with the world that’s not food related. My mother pointed out that she misses the old Megnut because she could keep up with me that way. Now she just keeps up with my food thoughts!

What do you hate?

I try not to hate anything. “Anger and hatred are materials from which hell is made,” said Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

What do you love?

Oh goodness, everything, from the smell of Christmas trees to a perfect soft-boiled egg. My husband, my friends, my family, my cat. Paris. New York City. The list could stretch forever.

Astounding facts about you:

I’m quite good at the standing broad jump but I have no vertical leap.

Are you Windows or Mac? Why?

Mac, just because.

How would your husband describe you?

Let’s ask him! He said he doesn’t have the mental capacity right now to answer that question, it’s still a little early on a Saturday for him. I think he’d probably say I’m crazy, but he’d mean it in a good way.

What is one of your favorite memories?

Shortly after my now-husband and I met, I invited him to come visit me in San Francisco, where I was living at the time. We drove up the coast to Marin County to go to the beach for the day. I had read about some tide pools, so had done all the calculations about when the tide would be low, and we walked several miles down the beach to find them, exploring along the way and just enjoying the beauty. I got soaked by a wave as I wandered too close to the edge of pool, trying to get a better look at some purple and orange starfish. I think he ended up lending me some clothes even, because I got so cold in my wet ones. But I think of that day often as one of my favorites, somehow it was just perfect.

What is your favorite thing to cook/bake?

Oh anything, I don’t really have a favorite, though I do enjoy making a nice cake from scratch, with layers and thick creamy frosting.

What are you working on right now?

Too much stuff, but one of my favorite things is planning the Buche de Noel I’m going to build for Christmas with meringue mushrooms.

What will you being doing next year?

Probably more of the same as this year, but that’s good because I’m pretty happy with everything I’m up to these days.

Tell me a secret?

I don’t really have any secrets.

What do you wish I had asked you that I didn’t?

If you could time-travel, where would you go? I’d go see rock concerts before people got really famous, like I’d go see the Beatles in Hamburg Germany where they used to play, or even see their 1964 show at the Hollywood Bowl, or travel to the Ed Sullivan Show audience the night of their performance. I’d also time-travel to see great speeches being given, like I’d pop in to hear Lincoln at Gettysburg. Nerdy stuff like that.

Thanks, Meg!

[credit: jjg]

Rebecca Blood has long since earned her Blogging Stripes. When you talk about the Old Timers of the Blogosphere, her name will always be uttered with a slight amount of reverence due to her famous essay on the history of blogs and blogging. Although below in her interview Rebecca states she has nothing to tell other bloggers, please let me suggest that her piece on blog ethics is a very worthy read for all current and aspiring bloggers.

Rebecca speaks at a variety of events and in particular, I’d love to sit in and hear what she has to say about Participatory Media and Participatory Culture. She’s written a book, The Weblog Handbook, and cites acting, boat-builder’s assistant and nanny as past jobs. My favorite thing about her (besides her being willing to talk to me) is that she endeavors to live a sustainable life. Her tips below will help everyone do so, and our world needs all the help She can get.

Blog Birthday:

April 27, 1999

Why do you blog?

I love sharing the interesting things I find.

What do you talk about?

Whatever catches my eye in the news or on the Web. I’m interested in lots of things, and various themes rise and recede over time. Right now I’d describe my active set of interests as books, reading, and libraries; the domestic arts; sustainability; gender; and the intersection between technology and culture.

What don’t you talk about? Why?

I usually don’t write about personal things. I’m a pretty private person to start with, plus my life is pretty boring.

Best experience regarding something you wrote in your blog or put out on the net?

I suppose the response to “Weblogs: A History and Perspective” which I wrote in 2000. It was at the height of the first big Internet boom, and Blogger was the sweetheart of the media. Blogger was the product of a San Francisco Web start-up (Pyra), it was founded by two young, charismatic people (Meg Hourihan and Evan Williams), it was wildly popular, and it had no apparent business plan. Article after article came out describing a blog as “a site made with Blogger”.

I knew different. I started reading the original weblogs in 1998, and I had been one of the first bandwagon-jumpers in 1999. The software reproduced what that original community had done (and lots of us were still doing) by hand, (never mind the other blogging services that were out there). So I wrote down what I knew of the history of weblogs, and how I had seen the community form. I didn’t think anyone would read it, but I remember thinking if, in the future, anyone ever does want to know
where weblogs came from, maybe they will find it on my website.

Instead, that URL got passed along through what seemed like the entire weblog community at the time. That essay is now used in dozens of university courses on new media, and has been reproduced in numerous anthologies on the subject. I believe that essay is the reason Perseus Publishing asked me to write a book on blogging for them (though I never asked). It established me as an authority.

Are you comfortable being considered an authority in the blogging field?

I am, if only because I have been around from almost the start. And I have a tendency to think about blogging far more than it warrants. 🙂

Favorite/worst thing about living where you live?

There’s really not very much I like about San Francisco. Let’s see…I love the burritos in the Mission District.

Where would you live if you could choose?

Close to my family. On a farm. With Amish neighbors to teach me to make cheese. With sheep, and maybe a cow and a few rescued battery hens. Oh, and help, so that I could be a gentleman farmer and spend as much time writing as I wanted to.

Either that, or someplace in Europe.

If you were president of the US:

The first thing I’d do is sign legislation re-affirming the United State’s commitment to the Geneva Conventions (and habeas corpus) and roll back any legislation legalizing torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Next, I’d focus on campaign finance reform and health care for all US citizens.

What actor would play you in the movie of your life?

John Malkovich.

What does your idea of a Sustainable World look like?

That’s a big question. I believe it’s a world of abundance – just look at the outrageous abundance of nature! I started to say that it’s a world in which our inputs equal our outputs, but that’s already true. The problem is that we haven’t paid much attention to what, exactly, we’re adding back into nature, and what we’re taking out.

Do you live in a sustainable way yourself?

I try to live sustainably, but as an apartment dweller, there’s only so much I can do. I can’t install solar panels, or insulate my home, or put in double-paned windows. I try not to buy a lot of stuff. I buy recycled and environmentally safe products whenever I can. The usual bag of tricks. San Francisco has city-wide recycling and composting, so we are able to generate only about one bag of garbage a month with those programs in place.

What can people change in their own life to help?

I’ve tried to adopt the principle of treating everything as if it were precious. That means that I use things until they wear out (like foil and plastic bags), reuse what I can (like cutting worn out bath towels into cleaning rags), recycle and donate what I don’t need, and so forth. You wouldn’t throw away a diamond if you didn’t need it any more; so I just try to apply that same way of thinking to all the materials that pass through my life.

What kinds of people do you interview?

It’s interesting, my goal when I started my “Bloggers on Blogging” series was to interview as wide a range of bloggers as I possibly could. But I’ve found that many bloggers don’t answer my emails when I request an interview. As a result, I’ve ended up interviewing mainly bloggers who link to me (and therefore know who I am and answer when I ask). [ed note: me, too!]

What is your favorite tip (in any category) at the moment?

Library Bookmarklet!

When I find a book I am interested in on Amazon, I can click a button on my browser’s bookmark bar and it will automatically check to see if my local library has it. If it does, I can just order it to my local branch from that same page; if it doesn’t I can order it through Interlibrary loan, and it will be delivered from somewhere else in the United States to my local branch.

I have read more books in the last two years (and saved more money – and clutter!) than I have in years and years. Once or twice every year I am late returning a book, and I have to hand over a nickel or a dime in late charges, which I do with great relish. Best money I spend all year.

What do you do to stay sane and healthy?

Get lots of sleep. Eat well. Clean my own home. Do things with my hands: knit, mend, garden, cook. Defend evenings and weekends against work. Go on a date with my husband once a week. Pet the cats.

In your opinion, what is the best application/widget/program or helpful-bit-o-code to come out over the past year?

I have no idea what even came out in the past year. I did use Kayak.com this weekend to book plane tickets, and I found it to be very helpful. It was new to me, did it come out in the past year?

Favorite color:

Deep, dark red.

Favorite food:

Philosophically, beans: cheap, nutritious, infinite variety, and absolutely delicious. Practically, there are too many to choose from.

Do you think it is accurate to say that a new blog is being created every second? If so, how long until we reach maximum saturation point?

We’ll reach the saturation point when every human being on Earth has one, I suppose. If a new blog is being created every second, it’s worth mentioning that one is being abandoned every 1.5 seconds.

When you were 10, what did you want to do when you grew up?

I think I wanted to be a writer or an actress.

Are there male/female stereotypes in the online tech world? Do you run into any yourself?

Of course there are. There’s definitely an old-boys network among the political bloggers, and I think there is, too, among the bloggers who write about technology, the Web, and blogging. I don’t think it’s conscious, but they seem to extend a level of respect to other men that women have to really work hard to earn. Even though most of them pay lip service to the idea that women are under-represented in their circles, for the most part, the women who do write on those topics seem to be largely invisible to them.

What do you hate?

Bay area housing costs.

What do you love?

Film. Good story telling in any medium. My husband, my cats, my family.

Is there anything that bloggers do that drives you crazy?

Complain about their traffic.

Seriously – are you Goth?

Not anymore, no.

Where does blogging fit into mainstream media?

It’s just part of the continuum. But if, by “mainstream media” you mean “journalism”, then there is no pat answer. It’s a little like asking where books fall in journalism: some do, some don’t. It depends on what’s inside.

What do you want to tell other bloggers, if anything?

Not a thing.

Where do you see the future of blogging going?

Wider adoption, by individuals, businesses, and journalism. We’ve almost gotten to the point (thank God!) that blogging is so common it’s unremarkable.

Astounding facts about you:

I’m about to finish a sweater I started 20 years ago.

Are you Windows or Mac? Why?

It’s a long story. I started out on a Mac back in the mid-90s. When I got my own computer (1998), I got a Windows machine because it was faster, and I liked playing games. I’ve had Windows ever since, right up to a couple of months ago.

I’m on a Mac right now because my husband’s computer busted and he needed an interim one until the PowerMacs came out. I inherited the interim one. I sort of needed a new computer because of some problems with the power supply that made it difficult to travel with my old machine.

I’ve been completely platform-agnostic all these years, but I have to say, the Mac is nice – most of the time, things just work. I probably will replace it with another Mac when the time comes.

How would the people you work with describe you? How about your family?

Work: Professional, conscientious, hard-working, easy to get along with.
Family: Unfocused, hard on myself, kind of a cipher, crabby when I don’t get enough sleep.

Do you cook?

Most nights. It’s one of my main hobbies.

Favorite dish(es) to create?

I love cooking in general, and I’m always interested and excited to try something new. This year those have been my favorite dishes to make, and I’ve tried 52 new recipes to date. I’ll probably get a few more in before the year is through.

Among my all-time favorite dishes are my pizza, my risotto, Deborah Madison’s Black Bean Chili, Crescent Dragonwagon’s Peas and Rice and Cassoulet, and Chuck Taggart’s spectacular Red Beans and Rice (made with my less fiery Creole Seasoning blend.)

What are you working on right now?

Organizing our apartment.

Your own favorite post or article you have written or contributed to? And/or your favorite post of someone else?

Oh, blogging is so ephemeral. I can’t remember what I posted (or read) earlier this week, let alone remember favorite entries.

What will you being doing next year?

Hopefully some speaking, maybe some writing, definitely some travel. Maybe I’ll try something new.

Tell me a secret?

When I was a teenager, my two role models were Cher and Mary Tyler Moore.

What do you wish I had asked you that I didn’t?

Not a thing. You’ve been very thorough. 🙂

Thanks, Rebecca!

This is where the group painting info will go.

Kristen Chase is a tall, dark and beautiful woman, currently pregnant with her second child. She blogs at Motherhood Uncensored as well as all over the web. (See full list below.) I saw her from afar at Blogher this past summer and wondered if she would ever want to be my friend. I think it was the pink pasties she had on the outside of her shirt all night. Someone else I met had a candy bar with her URL on it. She was using those candy bars as her business cards! Clever, that. I’m easily swayed by chocolate. She should run for something. She would win based on that alone.

Kristen has a quality to her writing that is hard to describe. Kind of grainy yet soft. Classy with a touch of down-home southern drawl. You could sit on the porch and drink lemonade just as easy as go out to a bar and do shot after shot. (After she has baby number two, of course.) I think it is her unclass-ability that draws me to her. It’s a surprise to see what she’s writing about every day.

Blog Birthday:

November 23, 2005. This year I will give thanks for 1 year of blogging.

Why do you blog?

I started blogging to share my difficult experiences with motherhood, since from what I could tell, everyone except me thought it was the easiest, greatest thing in the world. Turns out I wasn’t alone. Now it’s an outlet, a means to improve my writing, and a way for me to connect with other people. I imagine it will continue to change.

What do you talk about?

Everything, although lately it’s mostly pregnancy and in-laws. I look at my “post status” and see five posts in a row with my pregnancy category listed and think “shit, people are going to run away from me.” I try to be authentic to what’s going on in my life when I write, and the baby is on my mind.

What don’t you talk about? Why?

Anything goes for me. I blog about my in-laws while living with them and typing on their computer so, writing about my hemorrhoids or even my clueless husband seems like small potatoes. I won’t flame other bloggers. I figure there’s enough of that going on and I’d rather save my energy doing something more productive. Like flaming my in-laws.

Worst/best experience regarding something you wrote in your blog or put out on the net?

I wrote a follow-up post to Mom-101’s discussion about how she had failed Gloria Steinem with wanting to buy pink clothes for her daughter and it’s spiraled into the conference call and a regular spot on the Rolonda Radio Show. You just never know who’s reading.

Worst? None yet, but the potential that my in-laws find my blog and read it cover to cover haunts me. However, I don’t think they know what google is. Nor do I think they can read that well.

How many sites do you blog at? Why do you choose to blog at each one?

Motherhood Uncensored – It’s home to me. Plus someone referred to me as raunchy last week. I can’t get that anywhere else.

The Mom Trap – my paying gig at Clubmom. The paying part helps, but it’s been fun to have a place to go where folks don’t really know me and don’t expect me to blast someone’s kid leash.

Cool Mom Picks – my shopping blog co-founded/edited with Liz Gumbinner. It’s become my passion to find cool handmade indy stuff (much of which is mom-made) and tell people about it in a cheeky way that won’t make their eyes bleed. Plus, we’re helping moms who are living their passion, or at least finding a new one for the sake of their kids, get noticed.

I’m also a contributor at dot-moms and a columnist at Mamazine. Just other great outlets and ways to challenge myself as a writer.

Favorite/worst thing about living where you live?

I live with my in-laws – the kind that clean your plate off while you’re still eating on it, check your room now and then for neatness, and think sugar-free jello is where it’s at.

And that’s being nice.

The flipside is that I’m 10 minutes from my best friend in the world, and close to my own family and friends. And Wawa. I love Wawas.

However, living with my in-laws is a pretty close second to suffering it out for four years in Mississippi. I’m still trying to get over the irony of that one.

If you were president of the US:

I’d pull all the troops out of Iraq and bring them home to their families where they should be.

What do you do to stay sane and healthy?

I blog. And obsessively check email while watching reruns of Project Runway and Sex and the City.

Except I haven’t done that lately. Maybe that’s why I’m feeling a little nuts.

Do you parent the same way you were parented?

God no. I was raised by an abusive alcoholic and a fundamentalist Christian (yes at the same time…), so basically anything I do that does not involve hitting, emotional abuse, or guilting my kids into believing they are going to hell will be pretty damn good.

I’d love a parenting tip.

From me? Oh jeezus.

Mine generally include ways to increase my daughter’s fat intake and solidify her poop, however, I try to tell people that you just have to do what you think is right. Don’t try to live up to what you’ve read, or you’ve heard, or what someone else told you. They’re your kids – listen to them (and not just what they are saying – but sometimes what they aren’t saying).

Favorite color:

Lately, brown.

Favorite food:

Anything ethnic – rice. Tortilla chips. Kidding.
Basically anything non-American is great.

Is it different to be pregnant and have kids vs. pregnant with your first?

Yes. With #1, I could tell you week and day of how far I was, I did yoga, I worked out, I drank wheat grass shots, and sang to my belly. This time I couldn’t even tell my new midwife how far I was and the only exercise I’ve gotten is lifting a tastykake pie up to my mouth. I go through phases of feeling guilty about it, but then I talk to folks in the same boat and they say the same thing happens. Maybe that’s why the younger kids always get away with everything.

When you were 10, what did you want to do when you grew up?

A ballerina. Came pretty damn close, actually. I’m still a ballet snob.

Are you worried about being public on the internet regarding your kids?

No, although lately there have been some crazy assholes out there. But really, what else is new? People have way too much time on their hands.

The internet is an amazing thing, but it certainly opens up the world to folks who you would have never had any contact with ever in your life (or at least you hope it’s that way). I don’t post a lot of pics of my daughter, and I don’t use my husband’s last name, but if someone really wanted to find me, I guess they could. But then, I give my credit card # to some dude over the phone working for Omaha Steaks and in some ways, that’s probably riskier than blogging.

What do you hate?

Fear. Pantyhose with open toed shoes. Strong perfume. Being misunderstood by anyone. Weird wiry facial hairs on men and women. Ignorance.

What do you love?

My daughter. Rain on a hot summer night. Good sex. Making people smile. Laughing a lot.

What do you do that you get the most satisfaction from doing?

Helping others.

What do you want to tell other bloggers, if anything?

Chill out. Enjoy it.

Astounding facts about you:

My parents and my-laws were married on the same day same year. I can recite the books of the bible in rapid (and correct) succession. And I play a lot of instruments – guitar, piano, violin… I imagine it would be odd for folks to imagine me teaching Music Together classes – singing cutesy songs about blackbirds and kitty cats. But alas, I do and I’m actually fairly good at it.

Are you Windows or Mac? Why?

Windows. I grew up with Macs but when my dad switched the house to PCs, I went along with him. Free computers – you keep your mouth shut. Now I can’t even figure out how to open two windows on a Mac. Or maybe that’s because Macs don’t have windows. Damn. I sound like such a dumb PC user.

How would your husband describe you?

Headstrong, grudgeholding, and very principle oriented. And that I remember everything.

Oh. And that I’m hot. And if he forgot say that, I’d remind him of all the stupid shit he’s done. See the ‘I remember everything’ above.

I don’t know what great things he’d have to say about me. Perhaps that I’m smart and a go-getter. Since having a kid, our relationship is fairly strained and quite frankly, I’ve lost all my girlish charm.

Do you cook?

I can if I absolutely have to, but I find no joy, pleasure, or satisfaction in it. If I had money to throw around, I’d hire a chef in a minute.

What are you working on right now?

Way too many things, however, the busier I am, the less I have to interact with my in-laws. Blog talk radio show, Cool Mom Picks, a book, my marriage, being a decent parent, helping out folks that need it, and trying to be someone I’d like to hang out with.

Your own favorite post?

This is my clear favorite – in fact, it’s not really my own post anymore since it’s been published at The Imperfect Parent. However, it was just one of those days where the words flowed out of me like light beer from a plastic wide neck bottle at a NASCAR race (like my Dennis Miller impression?)

What will you being doing next year?

Running after two kids, trying to maintain some semblance of myself. And showering at least twice a week. Hey. A girl can hope.

Tell me a secret?

I’m horrible with sayings and analogies. For all my great grammar habits, I mess up quotes and 2 birds in the hand with one stone, all that shit. I’ve even had people email me to correct things I’ve written on my blog. My mind just doesn’t work that way.

And I’m crushing hard on Metrodad and Dutch (from Sweet Juniper), but seriously, who isn’t?

What do you wish I had asked you that I didn’t?

Do you really think motherhood is as hard/bad/difficult/terrifying as you make it out to be on your blog?

In some ways I do, but in other ways, it’s my own triple-A personality biting at my ankles. I just think the crappy stuff is funnier. We all have the great days where our kids light up our lives and remind us to be better people. I just like to tell the stuff that people want to say but don’t think they can. It’s not anything new or exciting – we’ve all had our kids shit in the tub and pick their nose and eat it. But it’s the ability to laugh at it out loud with other parents and not feel bad that makes it appealing to write about.