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Please give a short bio of yourself for our readers. My profile sums me up in a handful of words, but to add some length to that description: I am a Cancer, but a poor one at that--the idea of being settled makes me nervous. I've had the good fortune of living in about 61 countries and almost all the U.S. states and I am always eager to move. I own four cats that I worship to a degree that makes even me nervous. I became vegan after doing advocacy work for Guatemalan refugees involved in the poultry industry--one visit to a chicken factory can do that to a person. I am quite passionate about my beliefs, which are many and wildly liberal. I double majored in geography and anthropology in college with the intent of working with refugees later in life. I am fascinated by the connection between identity and place. I am in my first serious relationship; in two weeks I will have been living with my girlfriend Pandora for a year. I am quite impressed with myself. Why did you choose this username? Tanit is a North African goddess; I first learned of her in a history class on ancient Mediterranean civilizations. In Carthage, where worship of her reached its peak, there is evidence that Carthaginians sacrificed infants to her during a time of particular hardship: famine, continual attacks by the Romans, disease. Feminist scholars disagree, but what is meaningful to me is the misunderstanding surrounding Tanit. As a lesbian, I feel like people automatically are confused about what that means: am I man hater? Am I [insert stereotype of choice here]? My affinity for Tanit has been strong for years, and the summer evening that I began my diary here on Diaryland, it just seemed appropriate. Why do you keep a diary online? I am a rabid diarist, having kept a diary in daily life since I was 10. What I write there is everything: it is the dumping ground for my psyche. I've always been interested in writing, fiction mostly, but sometime in the last few years, I've felt possessed to write something that can be viewed more immediately than a novel. I started an online, email based journal that really helped me find perspective in my life. Writing about one's life in a way that is accessible to others is a wonderful way of getting to the essence of a sensation. Writing here on Diaryland forces me to distill a days worth of frantic scribbles into something that I can share, and with that, hopefully make a connection with someone. The connection is what really makes writing on Diaryland so satisfying for me. The feedback and correspondences I've developed have helped me to see that I am not so terrible as I think; that others struggle through the exact same miseries and angsts, and that poetry can be found in any experience. How important do you think a layout is for a web-based diary? Would you also comment on yours? I think layout should be meaningless for a web-based diary. While templates may get boring and repetitive, I balk at saying that only the 'pretty' diaries should be read. It sounds too much like high school, where physical appearance deigns one's worth. Also, as one who isn't HTML inclined, I wouldn't have a snazzy layout without the generosity of others. I hate to think that had I not been given those layouts, I would be skipped over. My layout has been designed by Ramanda (http://ramanda.diaryland.com). She created the layout for me as a gift; the picture reminded her of me. As I'm obsessed with all things tarot, it is particularly fitting. It is a clear theme through your diary that you disagree with retaliation. How do you deal with things that people might otherwise retaliate at? I guess this is one of the few things I can thank my parents for; I grew up outside of the U.S., in war torn countries, for the most part. My parents encouraged my brother and I to learn about--become a part of--whatever culture we lived in, and I have found myself a more empathetic person for it. The irony is that my parents are devout, die-hard Americans who worked for the government and the Air Force--I'm not talking hippies here. But something in their work, in our travels, made them feel compelled to show me that there are alternatives to retaliation. This is a hard topic for me to discuss; not that I don't know how I feel, but in this time of fervent passions about country, where retribution and retaliation are painted across the television daily, it is hard to speak of standing down without sounding pretentious. Of all the entries you have written, which is the closest to you? Which is your favorite? *laugh* Oh, what a wicked and seductive question! I am very fond of this entry because I feel it was one of the most accurate portrayals of me in Miami. That's how I felt more often than not: clinging desperately to something, feeling frozen but moving at the same time. My favorite entry is this one; my vices and worries are often human-form in my head, and this is how I view Anxiety. You also run a review site. What made you want to start the review site? How is that going? *laugh* I am opinionated. That's pretty much the only reason. I am so often recommending books to people in my life that I thought I should put those recommendations onto a website. I really adore doing the review site and I'm sad I don't update it more often. I enjoy being able to direct people to things that may be seen as mysterious or scary: tarot, yoga, meditation, Pagan oriented, etc. My goal is to create a site that offers reviews and resources of all media: books, cds, stores, websites, etc. Someday...someday... If you had the chance to meet any person and tell them exactly what you think of them, who would it be? What would you tell them? And of course, why? This is such a tough question! To only pick one! I think perhaps it would be Virginia Woolf, my most current obsession. The embarrassing fact is that I've never actually read any of Woolf's fiction; I came to learn about her through Louise DeSalvo's book "Writing as a Way of Healing"; from there, I went to the library and thus blossomed my obsession. Woolf lived such a tragic and abusive life: she had an incestuous relationship with her sister until she was an adult; was molested by a half brother until she married; was subjected to emotional abuse by almost every person she had a relationship with; suffered from chronic sickness and migraines...the list goes on and on. But she was so brilliant--surrounded by so many brilliant people! Its mind boggling that anyone could live the way she did, but I guess that's what it means to survive. I don't know what I'd say to her; perhaps "I love you". I'm finishing reading the letters between Woolf and her lover Vita Sackville-West; I could go on for hours about this, but basically, I am envious, almost, of Sackville-West for being in close contact with Woolf. I'd want that. I'd want to ask why she stayed with those terrible people; how did she manage to survive for so long, only to kill herself in the end. I'd want to hug her. Interviewed by Stats01
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