Questions from Aimee Answered.

Ok- this the five question Meme back again by way of Aimee.Took me a while but I hope it makes sense... The usual- if you want me to interview you( and you weren’t interviewed in the last go round), comment to this “interview me” and I’ll ask 5 questions{ reserving the right for ‘tag back’ and getting you to interview me)

1)I'm not familiar with the EFF, but seeing as they have an affection for my mailbox, I am familiar with the ACLU, so, why those two? And does one tempt you more than the other?
Ok… a little background as this is a cross-pollination question. Aimee has a bunch of links for charities on her blog… in my five questions to her I asked her about these, her answer was interesting and informative, as it told me a bit about her. In my response I told her if/when I have the money to donate to someone besides buying more crap for me; I’d like to donate sometime this year to the ACLU or EFF. I said this because while more often I’m in the hole at the end of the month then have money left over( I live in Boston and work retail), Aimee’s generosity touched me…So as I asked Aimee why those charities on her website, she’s asking me why those two charities get my attention.

I’m a big believer in first amendment rights- of the ability to say what you wish to say. I got into a big argument with my family while I was in grad school due to net filters- I’m against them, my family was oddly for them. In fact, for a while I wanted to re-find a site of kids against internet filters. It just took me a minute with google to find the site I liked in my paper and I just added it to my links. LOL. Not sure when it was last updated as the front page has links about the 2000 election in their “highlights”. Glad I found it, but anyway while researching net filters I realized that first amendment rights are needed on the web just as much as on the street, if not more so… the idea that I could’ve gotten fired by Staples if they found my blog makes my skin crawl.
EFF stands for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (and I just put their link to the side of my blog as well). I read an article that put forth the idea of EFF as the ACLU of the 21st century, which I understand their point as EFF is centered on electronic rights. EFF understands some of the problems facing bloggers and free speech on line. I feel that it’s important to me that I, Evan and you should be allowed to talk about whatever we want. Sadly this isn’t the case. I don’t want to revel their names, but I know a friend who got in trouble because s/he blogged about their life and some people had a problem with the way s/he lived their life…
Or to put it another way, one of the blogs Aimee links to has “adult content”( Lazy Geisha). I have no problem with this… and feel that adults should be allowed to see adult content, and EFF is trying to help people blog and keep out of trouble.
The ACLU; well part of the reason to join them is sheer spite. The Right always tries to smear Dems by calling them “card carrying members of the ACLU” like it’s a bad thing. I happen to think the ACLU is fighting the “good fight”. Right now I feel that the U.S. is in a nose dive as to what rights we as citizens do or do NOT have. When I heard, in defending wire taps, the right scream that “… You have no rights when you’re dead.” I hit the roof. This country was founded with such ideas as “Give me liberty or give me death”, “Live free or Die” and “Don’t Tread on me.” (Ok the last was a stretch but you get the idea… The ACLU is right now about making the most shadowy government we’ve had, more transparent. They might not win every case in front of the Supreme Court but they are surely fighting the good fight… which more then I can say for Congress.
Before I answered the last part- I went to check how much it costs to become a member of both organizations- ACLU wants $20 to become a member, EFF wants a min. of 15 for “student” level. That said- I’d most likely give to ACLU first. Because while I see EFF as important and perhaps more cutting edge, I see the ACLU as a bigger, broader organization. Sort of like how I’d rather give to the ACLU then the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Even though I think CBLD is noble, it ends up only protecting Comic Book stores and writers… I’d rather help defend EVERYONE.


2. From reading your blog, I know that you're not happy with your current job (or your previous ones from what I gather) and you'd like a job utilizing your education, but putting all things aside--educational background, comfort level, financial issues, etc.--what area of work, above all others, would make you the happiest job wise? Or simply put, do you have a dream job, Drew?
Yes, I have a dream job… and it has a direct correlation to my educational background. Which is to say after years of retail, I went to grad school to get a masters; and then since I haven’t been able to get a job in my field- I’ve had to go back to f’ing retail.
See during my third retail job, I realized a) no matter how much I liked the manager who hired me, eventually they will leave and I’ll be left with a a$$hat and b) I have to sell stuff that I don’t believe in. In my second retail job, I sold crap that I couldn’t afford on the salary they gave me( do the math- I made FOR them more money on average in two transactions a day then I got all week FROM them). At the third job before I left, management had started forcing us to try and “capture” personal information from the customers… They wanted us to ask customers for their addresses and part of me was like “F’ NO!” As this is something that I as a customer hate.
So I re-examined my life and life goal. When I first graduated college, I wanted to work at a bookstore with the hope of becoming a manager or better, an owner of my own bookstore (with an attached brewery). But each job took me away from my love of books and sharing this love with others.
So I went back to school for a Masters of Library Science. I desire to work in a library. My ideal job is not just to work in a library, helping people find the books and information they want but to work at a College Library, so that a) I can help “educated” people and not just the unwashed masses and b) so that I could continue to learn myself with free/ low cost classes.
Being a librarian wouldn’t net me millions but it would like double my pay check and bring me much needed job satisfaction.

3. You said your mom used to work at National Lampoon (an adult humor mag)--I think that's way cool, btw--so, I'm curious, what was that like?

Hmm… I’m tempted to say- ask her. ;-> I thought it was way cool. She worked as an ad person, getting people to put ads in the magazine. She recently told me a story about how hard it was for her as a woman to deal with some of clients. They were Japanese, and their customs meant that they could NOT allow her to pick up a check, so she’d have to talk to the restaurant and PAY them on the sly- so that she didn’t insult them. I found that interesting.
I also loved the fact that I could get free National Lampoons and Heavy Metal whenever I wanted. That was really cool for me. It gave me a reason to visit her. Sadly, it also made me devalue these magazines so that whenever she threatened my comics (and she did often) I’d get rid of the National Lampoons before I got rid of my comics.
Looking back I often feel I should give my mom more credit then I do. She raised two sons after her husband left her, juggling her career, our needs, and her own; and I think doing a better job of all of it then my dad( though as he spent more time at his job- he made more $)
Oh and while I never got to go in- I thought it was funky that to go to my mom’s office- I often “had” to pass by the New York Playboy club- which sadly closed before I ever got to go inside.
I also have fond memories of her working at Ms. Magazine, which she did before National Lampoon. Ms was the first place that had on site child care… so when I visited her at Ms, I’d be able to play with weebils and other stuff. The downside to Ms was that many of her co-workers didn’t have kids, and thus my candy was “taxed” on Holloween to give to her co-workers who couldn’t steal their own kid’s candy.

4. I have a couple friends in the Boston area, but I've never actually been there, it sounds like you're rather fond of it though, so I'm wondering, if I were to come to Boston, what's the one thing that I absolutely must see and/or do while I'm there? And why?
See sort of like the next question- I would tailor my answer on the person asking. I’d want to know what they liked and what they found interesting- like for instance- I blogged about how an internet friend was in town and I KNOW he wanted to see comic book stores, so I mentioned several places for him to see… had we been able to meet during business hours. HOWEVER, if I had to pick one thing ABOVE all else for any tourist, it would have to be the duck tours.
I think they’re a little expensive but I really liked the experience when I did it (and plan to do a duck tour when I get back). I like the tour of Boston and I really enjoy the fact that they go IN THE CHARLES RIVER. That said I’d never do one in NYC as I wouldn’t want to be that near to the Hudson River.
That said what I really like about Boston is more it’s character then any one PLACE. I like the fact that Boston is mellower then NYC… That the buildings look like they have a history- and there’s more sky then skyscrapers.
And it doesn’t hurt that Boston is a “safe distance” from NYC. Close enough for me to go down for the holidays; but far away enough so that my parents don’t stop by without advanced notice/ permission.


5. And because reading is one of my absolute favorite things to do, I'm going to turn your question around on you. Do you have a favorite book and/or author that you'd recommend I check out? And what is it about the book and/or author that sets it/them apart from others?
Ok, see above answers. I love books. The only thing I love more then books, is sharing my love for books. I could most likely recommend 5 to 10 books for each genre that I read. That said I will limit myself to two here… one is a book I often recommend- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell , I mention this one as I remember reading it and just being impressed by how cool and different it was. It’s a science fiction book- first contact. But what sets it apart is a) the author is an anthropologist, so it’s interesting how she creates the alien world and society and b) first contact is done by a Jesuit priest. I’m not religious but I find the framing to be quite interesting.
The second recommend is- you mentioned a sci fi mystery series so I feel I must counter with a horror mystery series( I really do like this sub genre) of the Blood Series by Tanya Huff( Blood Price, Blood Trail, Blood Lines, Blood Pact, Blood Debt). It takes place in Toronto and our lead character is a female P.I. She was let off the force because she has a degenerative eye problem which makes it hard for her to see in the dark. She ends up hooking up with a vampire (who’s a romance writer and bastard child of Henry the 8th) and then the fun happens. Each book deals with a different supernatural threat- ranging from Satanists, Mummies, Werewolves and a couple of others. I really like the mysteries and the interactions between our heroine’s two suitors( one being the vamp, the other being a cop still on the beat.) These were the books that introduced me to the horror mystery sub-genre, and I still think it’s one of the best.