Ten People. Ten Questions. Landis Smithers

Jennifer Holland

Eric Timothy Carlson

William Simmons

Alan Tudyk

Chas Smith

Foster Huntington

Jesca Hoop

Nathan Schields

William Nericcio Landis Smithers is the creative director at Grindr. Shortly after graduating from Cornell University with a degree in English and social anthropology, Smithers started his career at global advertising agency Leo Burnett, spearheading national campaigns for clients such as Clarion and Special 01 K. Smithers joined Grindr in September 2015 and has hit the ground LANDIS SMITHERS running, overseeing marketing for some of Grindr’s largest activations to date. From J.W. Anderson’s live-stream on the app to the Varsity clothing

creative director collaboration with online platform Print All Over Me to partnering with art collective VisionaireWorld to curate an interactive art exhibition SLUMBR, which celebrated Gay Pride at The Standard Hotel in New York City. Smithers’ creative mindset is catapulting Grindr outside its traditional role as a networking app to a full fledged LGBT hub.

What keeps you up at night? Grr. What is your position on monogamy? Top if tequila, bottom if whiskey. To what extent does money influence your career choices? I don’t work for free. Neither should you. Describe the last dream you remember. A third Obama term. When was the last time you lied? Why? I told Grr that I didn’t mind getting up to let her out at 3 a.m. I lied because she is a 15-year-old pit bull and needs to feel love at 3 a.m. How do you define love? You think you can “define” love? That’s cute. How will you spend this evening? Answering these questions and trying not to sound too pretentious. Probably failing. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? My mother always said envy was a wasted emotion, but she is highly enviable. What are you currently… Reading: Pablo Neruda. Watching: The Fall. Listening to: Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas” from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. An under-appreciated holiday gem. Avoiding: packing for Berlin. Trying to do more of: being kind. Trying to do less of: being impatient. What’s your favorite… Time of day: dusk. Restaurant: Lucques. Curse word: unfollow. Smell: Linden trees. Flower: peonies. Era: now. Drink: a French 75, which I am going to have, now. Jennifer Holland is an actress residing in Malibu. She has appeared in American Horror Story and will feature prominently in CMT’s upcoming TV show Million Dollar Quartet.

02 What keeps you up at night? A better question would be “What doesn’t keep you up at night?” I’m terrible at sleeping. I’m pretty functional on JENNIFER HOLLAND very little sleep though. What is your position on monogamy? If you can’t be monogamous, then don’t agree to be. No one is forcing you. It’s not for actress everyone. Be honest with yourself and your partner. To what extent does money influence your career choices? At this point, very little. Right now I just want to stay creative and feel fulfilled. I’m sure if you ask me the same question next year, I’d have a different answer for you. Describe the last dream you remember. Oh, geez! It was a sex dream. I shouldn’t describe it. When was the last time you lied? Why? I lied to my boyfriend because I didn’t want to hurt him. But I came clean, and he forgave me because he’s, like, amazing. How do you define love? Forgiveness, support and trust. All or nothing. How will you spend this evening? Cooking Blue Apron and watching Survivor with two crazy dogs and a cat that eats my hair. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? My best friend, Adri. She’s so driven and motivated but still kind. She’s creating a career for herself with almost no one’s help, all while managing her boyfriend’s busy life and emulating Martha Stewart (before the jail thing.). She’s a goddess. I could learn a few things from her. What are you currently... Reading: The Girl on The Train (tried to finish before the movie release and I failed) Watching: Survivor (amazing season), The Voice (Miley Cyrus is hilarious) Westworld (the magic bullets don’t make sense, but I don’t care), can’t wait for The Bachelor to start (only the most classy reality TV for me), and Last Week Tonight. Listening to: Daughter, Jack Garratt, RY X. Avoiding: dessert—like an addict in recovery. Trying to do more of: meditation, writing, and you can always have more sex. Trying to do less of: worrying about things I can’t control. What’s your favorite... Time of day: sunset out my new backyard in Malibu. I could cry it’s so beautiful. Restaurant: Mantee Café, a Mediterranean restaurant in Studio City. Great service and everything on their menu is delicious. Curse word: Fuck! All of them? I have the mouth of a sailor. I got it from my mom. Smell: Oribe Hair Sculpting Cream. It like ... activates my pheromones or something. And fresh baked cinnamon rolls. Flower: Wheat flour. Almond flour. Rice flour. Oh, did you mean flower? Orchid, I guess. Era: anytime before the 2016 election, when the world became a Twilight Zone episode. Drink: Coffee with cream, no sugar. Eric Timothy Carlson is an American artist based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Most recently, he was nominated for a Grammy for best recording package for his design of Bon Iver’s album 22, A Million.

03 What keeps you up at night? Drawing and television. What is your position on monogamy? ERIC TIMOTHY CARLSON To each their own, but be good to people. My record seems to indicate a serial monogamist. To what extent does money influence

artist your career choices? I’d be happy if it didn’t at all. Pursuing projects that I align with conceptually, ethically and politically is important to me. I’ve had little patience taking on side jobs to support myself, so in turn I have been obliged to make my practice sustainable. Describe the last dream you remember. In an arctic seascape, standing on the bow of an icebreaker ship with a young woman representing an international fossil- fuel conglomerate, I witnessed in the distance a devil with a manacled hoof diving into an isolated pool of black oil amid the glaciers. When was the last time you lied? Why? The devil dream was from 2011. It was a perfectly surreal and vivid narrative, and one I’ve shared often in the past. It goes on to include a knife fight, a demented patriarch, a greyhound and a massive white marble relief of the Looney Tunes Tasmanian Devil. The most recent dream I remember—vaguely—is rather awkward to say the least. How do you define love? Organic, freedom, respect, perspective, ideal, utopian, psychosis; I question how it’s marketed to us as a culture, but it is powerful to bond tightly with another, with family and with community. How will you spend this evening? I’m going to see Marijuana Deathsquads and Bon Iver play at Pioneer Works. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? Bilbo or Gandalf ? Jean-Paul Sartre is quoted saying Che Guevara “…was not only an intellectual but also the most complete human being of our age…”—though I believe a young death comes as part of that deal. Skate like Rodney Mullen? I’ve heard John Baldessari carries nothing in his pockets. Conflicted. What are you currently… Reading: The Incal and comments sections. Watching: Adam Curtis. Listening to: Beat Detectives, Syko Friend, The Savage Young Taterbug, Sleep. Avoiding: deli sandwiches. Trying to do more of: cooking. Trying to do less of: social media. What’s your favorite… Time of day: 1:11. Restaurant: Sunset Diner on Meeker in Brooklyn. Curse word: fucker. Smell: rain. Flower: rose. Era: now. Drink: pilsner.

William J. Simmons is an art historian, critic and curator. He grew up on a small farm outside of Sacramento, where he raised sheep, dairy goats and poultry. After graduating from Harvard University with a degree in art history and queer theory, he went on to the Ph.D. program at The 04 Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His writing on art and culture has appeared in numerous books and magazines, and WILLIAM SIMMONS he has lectured widely. In 2015, he curated the exhibition Queer Fantasy at OHWOW Gallery (now Moran Bondaroff) in West Hollywood. He art historian teaches art history at the City College of New York, and he is also the art editor-at-large of CRUSHfanzine and the art editor of MUSE Magazine.

What keeps you up at night? Loneliness and thinking about whether a quick fuck will make it better or worse. What is your position on monogamy? I’m very jealous, and I feel things very, very deeply, so monogamy is the only thing that makes sense to me. And my position on everything is “bottom.” To what extent does money influence your career choices? Monetizing art and relationships is soul crushing. As long as I have a steady job, I’m fine with being paid in experience in all other areas. Describe the last dream you remember. The great photographer Sally Mann was speaking to me from the sky using a drone. I’ve only met her twice, so I expect this is my subconscious telling me it’s time to swallow my fears and do a real interview with her! When was the last time you lied? Why? I told a boy that I was fine just being friends. Why? Because I’m working on accepting situations as they are, no matter how much it stings. How do you define love? Love is a series of very concrete actions. Love is also a series of intangible hopes and unrequited dreams. I suppose that love is the tension between what you expect from someone and what they can actually provide, and vice versa. How will you spend this evening? Writing. I write in the morning, go to work or run errands during the day, and write at night. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? I envy Nick Jonas, because he gets to be gay enough that all the boys love him but straight enough that all the girls love him, too. I’ve been a hopeless faggot my whole life, and there’s no opportunity for me to go back and forth. What are you currently... Reading: Lars von Trier’s Women by Rex Butler and David Denny. Watching: Fuller House, season 2. Listening to: “Hymne à l’amour” by Édith Piaf. Avoiding: A boy I’m in love with who is in town. He has such a sweet little smile. Trying to do more of: write things that are feminist, pro-queer and anti-racist. Trying to do less of: fights with Twitter trolls. What’s your favorite...Time of day: when I first wake up, and the world feels full of possibility. Restaurant? Big Daddy’s diner in Union Square, New York City. Curse word: Donald J. Trump. Smell: the way my room smells in the morning after someone sleeps over. Flower: lilac. Era: I love a good prehistoric matriarchy! Drink: Grey Goose martini, up, extra dirty, with olives. Or a French 75. Alan Tudyk is an actor whose talent has led him to a variety of stage, film, television and voiceover projects over the past 20 years. Alan is perhaps best known for his work in Joss Whedon’s cult 2002 television series, Firefly, as well as its follow up film, Serenity. Currently, Alan is the 05 director, creator and star of the Lionsgate web series, Con Man, is the ALAN TUDYK male lead opposite Vanessa Hudgens on NBC’s upcoming February 2017 comedy, Powerless, and can be seen as the next iconic Star Wars droid

actor (K2S0) in December 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He also voiced characters in Disney’s animated feature, Moana, which was released in November.

What keeps you up at night? Fear of. What is your position on monogamy? Every position in the Kamasutra. To what extent does money influence your career choices? Very little for the good choices. Describe the last dream you remember. I was directing some unknown episode of Con Man. I was feverishly Windexing off a plastic toy baby so an actress could open mouth kiss it. It might end up in season 3. When was the last time you lied? Why? I have never lied. Just then, that was my last lie. Because? I’m undergoing brain surgery. Now that was the last lie. How do you define love? Something beyond self, beyond reason, inspirational, monumental, graceless, graceful, divine and carnal that stains easily. How will you spend this evening? Eating Belizean ice cream. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? Anyone who devotes their lives to reaching out to help others. Because reaching out to slap others seems to be too common these days. What are you currently… Reading: Codex Seraphinianus. Watching: Happy Valley on the BBC. Listening to: Durand Jones & The Indications. Avoiding: Putting up the shelf in the laundry room. Trying to do more of: The putting up of shelves. Trying to do less of: Procrastinating about all things involving shelves or shelf type tasks. What’s your favorite…Time of day: Morning coffee time. Restaurant: Blair's in Silver Lake. Curse word: Cun* (this is said with a British accent and the “t” is not pronounced” Smell: Top 3 - musty basements, cinnamon oatmeal with raisins cooked in a pressure cooker, pine tree forest. Flower: Lily. Era: 1940s. Drink: coffee. Chas Smith is a bright, hyper-ironic surf journalist, author, and bon vivant from Coos Bay, Oregon; frequent contributor to Stab magazine, contributing editor at Surfing magazine, and co-founder of Beach Grit, a surfing website. Smith spent time in Lebanon and Somalia in the early 06 2000s researching and writing pieces for Vice. He also covered the Israeli- Hezbollah conflict for the internet-based CurrentTV, an assignment that CHAS SMITH ended with Smith as a brief captive of Hezbollah. His first book Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell was published in 2013. His second, Cocaine + journalist Surfing: A Love Story is out later this year.

What keeps you up at night? Not hitting my marks. I feel what I want to do, what I want to make, what I want left on my fucken tombstone but I don’t see it clearly all the time. So I bumble around trying to bring an emotion often sniffed at 2 a.m. or conjured through alcohol to life. What is your position on monogamy? I’m with it! I’ve always equated monogamy with the romantic ideal. If you are not willing to fight, to kill, to die for the one then what the fuck is your point? Knights tilted for their true love. Not their true loves. To what extent does money influence your career choices? Unfortunately it doesn’t. I make decisions that I hope will be financially amazing… I so so so so so so so so so want to make a heap of money and set my family up and free my wife from work and free any and all loved ones from stress etc. etc. but son of a bitch. When I was 10 or thereabouts my mom pointed out a Ben and Jerry’s bumper sticker on a car that read, “If it’s not fun why do it?” I hope fun = financially amazing. But fun is fun and always primary. Describe the last dream you remember. I was talking with professional surfer Mick Fanning. He was explaining to me why he called me a nasty name. I was explaining to him why I’m an asshole. It was all very grown up and productive. When was the last time you lied? Why? Last night when my wife asked me how many drinks I had. Because the last time she asked me and I told the truth I ended up on the couch. How do you define love? The willingness to lay down your life for your friends and family. How will you spend this evening? Happy. On one side of the bed while daughter snuggles wife on the other side, snoring, and I’ll be trying to find something to watch on TV annoyed that we finished TheOA so quickly and annoyed that The Affair is sooooo slow. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? I’ve just spent 10 minutes combing my brain on this one and can honestly say no one. Maybe…? Yeah. I got nothing. Maybe it’s why I haven’t made a heap of money. What are you currently… Reading: Flametti or The Dandyism of the Poor by Hugo Ball Watching: The damned Affair but I wish I wasn’t. Listening to: Frank Sinatra. Avoiding: Caffeine after 10 am because I’m pretty sure that’s where migraines come from. Trying to do more of: Write. Trying to do less of: Searching Pitchfork to find an album that will help me write. What’s your favorite…Time of day: 3 p.m. Restaurant: Birdseye Cafe in Leucadia. Curse word: Fucken. Smell: Tobacco. Flower: Roses. I have three of them. Era: Now. Drink: Vodka. Foster Huntington is a photographer and author. He left my job in New York in the summer of 2011 and moved into a camper. Since then, he has driven 100,000 miles around the west, surfing and camping. During the summer of 2014, he set up a home base in the Columbia River Gorge. 07 Huntington has published three books, The Cinder Cone, Home Is Where FOSTER HUNTINGTON You Park It and The Burning House.

author/photographer What keeps you up at night? I normally think about what I’m going to do the next day before I fall asleep. For the last year, I’ve been wracking my brain thinking about the studio we are building and keeping that hole operation rolling. There's a million details to keep on top of when you're making something and a good portion of my idle thoughts are focused on making sure I don’t fuck that up. What is your position on monogamy? There’s that Chuck Palahniuk quote from Fight Club, “On a long enough timeline, the survival rate of everyone drops to zero.” I think the same can be said about monogamy, despite our best efforts, it stands in opposition to human nature and desire. To what extent does money influence your career choices? Not much at all ha, sometimes I wish it did more. I certainly wouldn't be trying to make it as a filmmaker and photographer. Describe the last dream you remember. Not sure exactly the last dream I had but one that comes to mind is a dream that I’ve had a few times is one where I’m running around in the woods where I grew up going at it with a Predator alien from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. It always ends with me about to shoot the Predator but the gun conks out and I wake up. Not sure what it means... When was the last time you lied? Why? I always make deadlines for myself that are overly optimistic that I never meet. Not sure if that qualifies as lying. How do you define love? Something, or someone that you can’t give up or loose. How will you spend this evening? Firing up the motion control machine in the studio and doing some lighting tests on a copper X-wing ha. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? Werner Herzog. He has an amazing ability to follow his curiosity and cranks out a crazy amount of projects. From fiction to docs, it’s pretty amazing to see all the stuff he has done. I hope when I’m 74, I’m that motivated and inspired. I also love that he’s committed to his process, he gets knee deep in whatever he’s doing. Not sure if envy is the right word, but admiration is certainly up there. What are you currently… reading: I’m currently reading Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson. I’ve been on a cyberpunk kick the last few months, reading William Gibson, Philip K. Dick… What’s your favorite… time of day: My favorite time of the day is the morning before other people are up and doing shit. I love to wake up early, drink coffee, read stuff online and nerd out. Jesca Hoop is a singer and musician. Her new album Memories Are Now, out February 10th on Sub Pop Records, was produced by Blake Mills (Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes), and is a fresh debut of sorts. Hoop grew up in California but currently resides in Manchester.

08 What keeps you up at night? If my brain is at work in the slumbering hours its most likely trying to predict the future and trying to wrap my head around all those pesky unknowns JESSICA HOOP which keep cropping up time and time again. Projects. All those moving parts, the cogs at work… hover over me and keep me awake…. some nights…. but really I’m a very good musician sleeper. What is your position on monogamy? First let us say that I am not fixed in my beliefs. I hope to ever evolve and grow. As it stands I think I look at monogamy in a rather realistic way. I don't believe humans are monogamous by nature but our social constructs block us from what is natural and we operate in the accepted possessive mind frame when it comes to love and partnership. There is no social support for polyamory therefore the tools that it takes to love more than one aren't really available. The heart will always go towards love in whatever form it comes and it will always ask for more. I am of the thought that monogamy is too steep a standard as it is proven time and time again. I think I'll blame the Patriarchs and the invention of the nuclear family. So in recognizing that there is no real support for what I could consider a higher path, I look at it as a choice. I only have so much time and ALOT of work to do. Do I want to spend my time managing jealousy and possessive attitudes? If I choose polyamory…it’s gonna be a lot of work. What kind of work do I want to do with the time that I have? To what extent does money influence your career choices? I have been self-funding (and not with daddy's credit card) since I was dropped by Sony two months after my first release (a blessing in disguise) back in 2007. I have to create and produce and put that work into the world, money or no money. I have been very fortunate in forging relationships with a few great people who have steadfastly stood by me over the years and helped me bring my work into the world. Describe the last dream you remember. It was on the last Super Moon. I was staring into the night sky which was full of energy!! In my dream I could feel the charge. Above me there were three very near and very large planets wrapped in Vivienne Westwood cloth. The planets were spinning. At a certain point and very suddenly all three planets switched spots. When was the last time you lied? Why? See items 1-4 above :-) How do you define love? I’ve never tried to define it so I suppose that I don't. I know it as a nutrient, like sunlight and water. I know it as a feeling and a place, like the womb or an embrace. I know it is limitless and I recognize that it is all around and in absolutely everything, even when I can't see or reach it. How will you spend this evening? I am going to design a leather and brass harness, a piece of tackle that I will wear in these upcoming Memories Are Now tours. I will also bathe and read. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? Never :-) What are you currently… Reading: An indigenous Peoples History of the United States and also The Heart is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Watching: Ladies of London. Listening to: David Bowie while I tile my kitchen. Avoiding: broken records. Trying to do more of: easy breathing. Trying to do less of: Blowing my nose and coughing up my lungs. What’s your favorite… Time of day: Dusk. Restaurant: Sasabune in West L.A. Curse word: Fuck. Smell: Fresh Strawberry juice on the skin. Flower: Magnolia. Era: Any time before plastic. Drink: A good Amarone. Nathan Schields is the owner of the Malibu Newsstand, located at 23717 Malibu Rd. While attending Pepperdine, Schields became friends with the former owner, Fran Perry, whom had lived in New York for years and wanted to provide a “big city” newsstand for Malibu residents. Over time Perry became like a mother to Schields and eventually handed over 09 ownership to Schields. The Malibu Newsstand is currently developing separate revenue NATHAN SCHIELDS streams through digital advertising, and diversifying their Malibu-based products as well as food and drink options. Support print, shop the newsstand (see: Editor’s Letter).

Malibu Newsstand owner What keeps you up at night? My two-year-old daughter Amalia climbing into bed and pushing me around. My wife often works nights as a postpartum doula and I wake up teetering at the bed’s edge with tiny feet at my back. What is your position on monogamy? It’s a lot of work, constant work, but with good benefits, especially with children. To what extent does money influence your career choices? As an adult, wealth has never been high on my priority list. I certainly can see the advantages money can offer, but at the end of the day I just want to work hard, be comfortable and still be able to smile. Describe the last dream you remember. The last dream I remember had to do with eating coconut cake, flying over the ocean (on my own power of course), a swordfight with the My Little Ponies, a trampoline which was a vortex into a realm of beautiful breakdancing mermaids. When was the last time you lied? Why? I’m a parent. I probably lied sometime while I was tucking them into bed a few minutes ago. Often its done to try to calm them or make them feel better. Other times its completely self-serving, to help me feel better. Also, to that woman who I told I would try to get the Norwegian knitting magazine- I’m not going to try to get the Norwegian knitting magazine. How do you define love? I’m not sure if you mean Darlene Love or Mike Love. But I think I prefer Darlene Love, she never screwed up the Beach Boys. Love is when you feel that spark that links you to eons of humanity. Love brings you in contact with something magical and pure. It’s not just the other person, it’s connecting to the raw unadulterated goodness that I like to think exists in us all, even those of us who run for president. How will you spend this evening? Played around with the kids for a bit until their insanity hit its zenith, then took them to bed. Practiced a bit of Spanish, worked a crossword puzzle, enjoyed some silence. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? People who embody greater self-sacrifice and compassion, like Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Gandhi, LL Cool J. What are you currently… Reading: Siddhartha, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, bits and pieces from many different magazines. Watching: Old Simpsons episodes with the kids, Holiday movies, Bowl games. Listening to: Drive-By Truckers, Dylan, Bruno Mars, old R&B, older rap, pop. Avoiding: I’m not sure what I’m avoiding probably because I’m avoiding it… Trying to do more of: I always try to find ways to better myself, either physically, emotionally, intellectually, humanly, parentally, or experientially. There is never any shortage of improvements to be made. Trying to do less of: I’m trying to do less worrying, expending energy uselessly. Oh, and this year I promised myself I would stop huffing glue. What’s your favorite… Time of day: I like the early mornings, when the sun rises and it’s a new day. Restaurant: My wife and I both really enjoy sushi restaurants and we partake when we can. Curse word: My favorite curse word has to be fuck, its useful in so many situations, good and bad, plus my mom said it a lot when I was growing up. Smell: The smell of orange blossoms is one I’ve always loved. Flower: I like lilies and irises, they remind me of spring, rebirth, freshness. Era: This one I guess; it’s really the one I know best. Drink: I like citrus especially lime, so mojitos, margaritas, gimlets. Although a good red wine is also hard to beat. A notorious Mexican-American literature professor, public intellectual, artist, and sometime troublemaker, William Nericcio was born in the fabled “Streets of Laredo,” Texas. With an undergraduate degree in English honors from the UT in Austin and an M.A./Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Cornell, Nericcio now works as the Director of the Master 10 of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at SDSU. Nericcio is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles in several journals. His WILLIAM NERICCIO television show, Mextasy, is still in Hollywood turnaround hell/limbo.

professor/author What keeps you up at night? Nights these days are filled with feverish nightmares—not all featuring our incoming president (but some). What is your position on monogamy? That’s a trick question for a man who has been married 30-some years. Monogamy is impossible and, simultaneously, a prized sacred ritual. So little left in our lives is sacred that the promise of a life sans fear, sans betrayal, sans disease (I am an inveterate hypochondriac), sans the absence of love appeals to me at a deep level. That and I am a romantic. The cynic in me sneers at the last line but luckily I am a post-Freudian and a Derridean so I can live with that. To what extent does money influence your career choices? Money, that bastard—that worthless, necessary beast. I tend to personify it all the time screaming and pulling hair out over its dominatrix-like control over me—can you tell I have two children in University? But absence makes everything more dear, more cherished. Describe the last dream you remember. Ha, that takes me back to 1 and 2 above--I best keep quiet! When was the last time you lied? Why? I told someone I work with that I love their ideas and love working with them when, in fact, the very opposite is true. They were so engaged, so committed, so interested and invested, that I had to go 'the little while lie' route. It worked. How do you define love? Love is transmogrification, transubstantiation! Love is always already ecstasy—pleasure is there, of course, but also the idea of a higher spiritual climax where your prior sense of self is destroyed, even. Am I talking about what the French call la petite mort? Yes, a little—but also in there are random chaotic strands of Freud, Derrida, de Sade, and Anais Nin (lensed by Man Ray, no doubt). How will you spend this evening? My two children, Lorenzo Antonio and Sophia Alessandra, are home from college for the Christmas holidays; I am going to spend the evening with them and my wife, Rosalinda, cooking dinner, drinking wine, and watching a movie. Tell us about someone you envy, and why? I envy my former graduate school Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who teaches at Harvard and hosts/write/produces television special for PBS. I have a documentary TV Show in the works called Mextasy, tracking the remarkable doings of Latinas and Latinos in the Americas in media, literature, music and more—and it just has got no traction. To this day, Mexican Americans in the American popular imagination remain all too invisible. What are you currently… Reading? The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia and Love and Rockets by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez. Watching? I am mesmerized by Phoebe Waller-Bridge on Fleabag. Listening to? The Jayhawks, Paging Mr. Proust. Avoiding? Finishing Eyegiene: Permutations of Subjectivity in the Televisual Age of Sex and Race for the University of Texas Press. Trying to do more of? Ride my fucking mountain bike—I am too old to stay lazy! Trying to do less of? Being an asshole with my mouth—occupational hazard for English Professors. Just shut the fuck up! What’s your favorite… Time of day? Easy, 5pm, home to cook dinner and dive into my latest bottle of cabernet. Restaurant? Buono Forchetta. Curse word? Chinga tu madre. Smell? Roasted garlic on fresh toasted bread with red wine. Flower? Lilies. Era? 1970s. Drink? I love my wine, but my mixed drink: Vodka soda, two limes. Images courtesy Sarah Dunn, Marc Cartwright Photography, Zach Gross