Proust Questionnaire

Darell gave me a Proust Questionnaire – then I found out that Vanity Fair has a book of them given to famous people. And apparently (according to them – Jordan thinks it’s a gimmick, but only after she was compared to a figurehead of the 1960s counterculture, which is all very amusing! – I am 95.33% similar to Karl Rove (!) So whatever- these are my actual answers

1. What’s your idea of perfect happiness?
Enrollment in the Endless University of Life. Bunnies. Books. Good conversation, spontaneous kindness and impulsive travel.

2. What is your greatest fear?
To be eaten up by envy and despair. To be hollow at the centre.

3. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
John Donne, Leo Tolstoy, Elizabeth Barett Browning, William Blake, John Milton.

4. What living person do you most admire?
Nelson Mandela.

5. What trait do you most deplore in yourself?
Arrogance, pretentiousness.

6. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Duplicity, Insincerity, Sense of entitlement.

7. What is your greatest extravagance?
Books, objects of beauty with no practical use

8. On what occasion do you lie?
To save money and to save face.

9. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My protruding stomach.

10. When and where were you happiest?
Traveling, living roughly while camping, near bodies of water, on boats, falling in love.

11. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would be more malleable, less stubborn, more teachable.

12. If you could change one thing about your family what would it be?
All the broken links would be reconciled, from generation to generation.

13. What would you consider your greatest achievement?
Admitting to failure. My song.

14. If you died and came back as a person or thing what would it be?
Tiger, Tiger, burning bright.

15. What’s your most treasured possession?
My journals.

16. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Stuck in a job I never wanted, in a lifetime of drudgery working for a cause I don’t believe in, living in envy and hating the things I loved, all the while trying to convince myself I am happy.

17. Who are your heroes in real life?
My great-grandmother, Yohannes.

18. What is it that you most dislike?
Ugliness, pain, misery, oppression, blind privilege

19. How would you like to die?
Beloved, with a job well done.

20. What is your motto?
Beauty is vain, and charm is deceitful, but a woman who loves the LORD she will be praised.