From what or where or whom do you come and do you see it in yourself?
I don't focus on personal history very much. I feel that what's ahead of me is not dependent on my previous life or the lives/culture/class of those I've come from. Some of this is denial of the way the world works – some of this is wanting to preserve the possibilities of youth, where you can still start afresh, where none of your actions/ choices/mistakes foreclose any options.
What darkness almost overwhelms you and what keeps it at bay?
I used to be afraid of loneliness. I thought I might be unable to escape it. I felt like I was spiraling into a an ever more cloistered introversion. I sometimes feel like I haven't made as many connections with the outside world as others have. Maybe I'm too impressed with myself.
From what have you managed to free yourself?
I no longer worry much about whether I'm smart "enough" or successful "enough". Now I just act pragmatically to try to get what I want – now I just have to decide what I want, and what I'm willing to do to get it.
What dream do you remember most vividly and what message does it bear?
I'm not very concerned with the content of my dreams. I might be delusional, but I don't feel like there are these deep secrets buried in my psyche that need to be divined from dreams.
Why don’t you listen to what the universe or your mind or your body or your god whispers ever more closely to you?
I listen intently, but the messages are sometimes contradictory. Once you listen to your mind, there is immediately more to listen to. Consideration breeds more content, ad infinitum. There's no separate self – God is attempt to escape from this, but it doesn't work for me.
What does art do, really; what's the value of art?
When it succeeds, it adds to the possibilities of meaning.