1. How much black do you have in your wardrobe?
More than the average person probably needs. I have an affinity for band Ts and snarky Ts, and black is a predominant color for those. And few of my T-shirts (of any color) remain in their natural state. I recona cousin to upcycling, but with the end product still being the same object, just revamped in some way almost every one of them. I absolutely hate crew necks; it’s an issue for me, having things against my throat. But I also don’t usually love where V-necks land, as most V in a place that I feel looks awkward. Most, I recreate with deeper Vs, usually deep enough to fall off one shoulder if I choose. One of my favorites is a plain black T that I turned into a one-shoulder shirt by cutting it from the collar at the shoulder to just below the opposite armpit seams. I folded the raw edge over and sewed a channel, then threaded it with a hot pink ribbon to tighten the shirt and tie at the shoulder. Voila!
2. When did your pen prove mightier than the sword?
Well, as a writer, I think that’s probably the goal most of the time. But personally… probably when I wrote a pointed email to a former friend. It was a friendship that had been very one-sided, and it took me too long to realize it. It became clear to me that she expected me to dance attendance on her, almost literally. Both of our husbands were deployed with the same unit, and we lived in the same complex. Despite the fact that I had four children, two of them pretty young, she expected me to jump to her needs at all hours of the day or night. That just wasn’t possible sometimes, say… at 2 in the morning, which happened more than once. Her needs were constant, literally. She became vicious about it. But the final straw was the day I started chemo. She knew it was happening, yet called me nonstop, while I was in the middle of treatment, demanding I come to her house immediately. When I didn’t for obvious reasons, she lost her mind. That was the end for me. I came home, crafted an email, and sent it. That was the end of that.
3. How do you feel about Mexican food?
I love it! Pretty much the first thing I do when I go some place for any length of time is scope out a Mexican place. That being said, I live in Hawai’i, and while I have good Mexican around me, I eat mostly local food and Asian food. This place is food heaven.
4. In what situation have you had recently to hold your horses?
Honestly, I can’t think of one!
5. What are your favorite words beginning with Z?
- zufolo: a little flute or flageolet
- zloty: the basic monetary unit of Poland
- zythum: beer of ancient times
Fun fact: I grew up near the Canadian border, so instead of the usual American zee pronunciation, I’ve always used zed. I also write my Z’s with a stroke… not in the supremacist Wolfsangel way. Part of it is because of its use in the written military alphabet, thanks to my years in the Army. Also, I was a Polish linguist, and it’s often used both for the abbreviation of their zloty monetary unit, and as an allographic variant of their Z with an overdot. I was taught to use the Z with a stroke more than the overdot version, and it stuck, even in English.
When I discovered how amazing tshirts were with the neck cut off of them my world was forever changed. My husband bought me a tee with Disney’s Orange Bird on it as a little spring gift. I didn’t want to immediately take the scissors to it but I’m wearing it today and I keep tugging at the neck. The next time it appears, this crew neck will be gone baby gone.
Do you also cut the trim from the sleeves?
Yup. I cut them at an angle fro armpit to just above the hem of the sleeve. Sort of a butterfly wing shape.