Here's another interview for the interview series file. Enjoy!

  • Who are you? What do you?

I've had lots of jobs, but at the moment I only have three: running a folk club, host= ing a radio show, and teaching ballad-singing at the Folk School. Two of these are volunteer jobs. I am also a 40/50-hour per week babysitter for my 2-year-old grandson and adult in charge at my house. I have recently acquired a sewing machine and a few art supplies, and got my concertina back from a friend who borrowed it; the projects, they will come.

Ongoing activities for years include folk dancing, especially Border Morris. I have been dancing, I reckon, for roughly 51 years. Singing, roughly 60; collecting songs maybe 53. Reading, since before I started school. (I read history, detective stories, and Kipling, mostly. I will also pick up= anything by Terry Pratchett, and have only been disappointed once there. I like Shakespeare, don't care for Thomas Hardy or most poetry.)

Things I can do well enough to have made money at, either occasionally or on a regular basis: Drawing and painting. Sewing in a pants factory. General assistance in a doctor's office. Singing. Belly-dancing. Salesclerk-type selling: candy, pictures and mirrors. Writing. Teaching mentally ill and/or learning disabled children. All these jobs have their ups and downs.

As for Intellectual stuff: I admire but do not have the temperament for heavy-duty intellectualism: teaching has made my natural instinct for pragmatism even stronger, and too much nitpicky defining and speculation becomes boring to= me fairly quickly. Also there is a heavy-handedness that goes with too muc= h categorizing; I like exceptions to rules.

  • Jet Packs or Hovercars?

    They both sound like fun!

  • Lets talk about technology: What kind of technology do you use, and what's the coolest thing that technology enables for you? What about your technology do you find frustrating?

    I am a fairly backward person technology-wise: I'd say things like "the wheel" or maybe "cars" or "dishwashers" here. And I do like my computer. I also like binoculars. And shoes that actual ly fit your feet, that's technology. Digital cameras have proved convenient but slightly disappointing: they don't move fast enough. Cellphones are a mixed blessing too: they always need charging, and people expect you to HAVE one.

  • Favorite song at the moment? Tune? Who are the runners up?

    Song, at the moment: Dick Gaughan singing "Fair Flooer of Northumberland" or Louis Killen singing "April Morning." or Peter Bellamy singing "We Have Fed Our Sea," or Pete Morton singing "Another Train."

    Tune: "Orange in Bloom/Sherbourne Waltz," and there are millions of runners-up. I like shapenote hymns when someone else is singing them, but am too much of an anarchist to like following dots myself. Plus I am rather surly about church, and all the praise-the-Lord-ing gets to me sometimes. There is no why; there usually isn't, with what I like. I could come up with one if I tried, but I am not by na= ture very introspective.

  • Favorite Website?

    Wikipedia, for one. YouTube. Gutenberg Press. Sky and Telescope. Amazon.

  • What do you think was the most important event of the last 15 years?

    The ongoing growth of the Internet--a new Wild West. :D

  • One thing that you're most looking forward to in the next year?

    Reclaiming a few lost skills (see the first question)

  • One thing that you wish you could learn?

    Gardening. Actually, I'm not sure "wish" is the correct word: if I want to know something I can get a fair start on doing it. But I do intend to try my hand at making a proper garden next spring.

  • Doctor Who v. Red Dwarf?

    Dr. Who: mostly because I've never seen Red Dwarf but maybe once...

  • Where can we find more about you/your projects?

    The Focal Point; The LiveJournal; Folk School, or by asking me!