Friday 5: Arachnid Guy

1. In what way do you have great power and great responsibility? I think that can be said of writing. You have a lot of power to tell a story or expose something or express something, but also a responsibility to everything from the other people involved if it’s nonfiction or a responsibility to tell a good story, maybe a responsibility to readers and editors, responsibility to be honest with yourself and your audience.
2. When have you recently swung into action on very short notice? That’s been a lot of the last few days. My dad’s been in the hospital, so we’ve mostly been visiting, but we’ve also swung by my parents’ house to take care of the dog.
3. What’s the closest you’ve come to being stuck down with great vengeance and furious anger? Are we talking about incurring someone else’s wrath or someone incurring mine? I’d give you both, but I can’t speak for what other people are thinking or doing and what sort of vengeance they may wish for me…aside from a few solid guesses. And they times I have been a victim of someone’s vengeance and anger, it wasn’t so much a close call as it was an overwhelming fury. As for my end, there are times like at family functions, both on my side and my husband’s, I’m only ever a glass of wine and someone else’s tiny misstep away from letting them know how I really feel.
4. What’s something memorable in a museum you’ve visited? I’ve seen a lot of awesome things in museums, especially art–I’m a big fan of French art and always love seeing it in person. But I maintain my stance that the Holocaust museum in D.C. is one of the most important in the country and that everyone should go at least once. I was raised by a World War II buff and was exposed to a lot of information about the war and the Holocaust from a pretty young age, but seeing some of these things in person is sobering. I’ve been there I think two or three times, and two things stand out to me: one of the train cars used to transport people and a room full of shoes taken from people. I can remember the smell of the leather and the sheer number of shoes piled into this room.
5. Who’s the most interesting person you’ve met while traveling? I don’t know. I feel like I’ve mostly had brief encounters with people, but the other night, my friend Marissa, my cousin Meredith, and I were reminiscing about how when we vacationed in Mexico a few years ago, a girl about our age was vacationing with her mom and came in our room to drink with us one night.

As always, from Friday 5.