Hello. I resent this demand, especially since I don't know how to do it, but...

I used to be a grad student in English... dropped out because of depression and don't want to go back now. These days, I care more about social justice than analysing literature (though I still love to read, but can no longer read as much as I used to be able to -- lingering effect of depression). I think I probably believe too much in the goodness of people, but don't think it's a bad thing, even if I'm wrong sometimes.

I'm also a political 'radical' -- don't believe in capitalism, and think it's oppressive. But no, I won't beat the shit out of you with my politics. Unless your politics are shit.

Oh, and I play on the best softball team ever, so long as you're not talking about athletically the best. We have a blast, drink beer when practice starts around 10:30am on Sunday mornings, and go to the same pub after every practice.

Trying to change things for the better in this fucked up world of ours. Working on trusting people a little better. I know that sounds weird after saying I believe too much in the goodness of people, but they're both fucking true. Sue me.

"Ever tried. Ever failed. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." -SB

Writing? or I used to be...
Loving my friends and family (thank dog I have a good family).
Being a relatively reliable member of my collective.
Trying to take good care of my new cat. Her name is Emma and she has way too much energy.

?

Books:
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist, anything by Alex Berkman
Third Factory; Zoo, or Letters Not About Love, anything by Viktor Shklovsky
W, or the Memory of Childhood, anything by Georges Perec
Impossible Object, almost anything by Nicholas Mosley (yes, the son of Nazi sympathizer Oswald Mosley, but nothing like his father)
1982, Janine, anything by Alasdair Gray
Soccer vs. the State, by Gabriel Kuhn
Red Emma Speaks, anything by Emma Goldman
We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
The Third Policeman, anything by Flann Obrien
Scoop, anything by Evelyn Waugh
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Too many others to list.

Movies:
Withnail and I, The Pink Panther (originals), The Thin Man series, Gangs in Blue (documentary), docs in general, David Lynch films, Jim Jarmusch films, Charlie Chaplin films, Sam Fuller films, Kurosawa films, Truffaut films, samurai films, 007 films when I am in the mood, good sci-fi flicks, if I have the money I'll see movies in the theater.

TV:
Twin Peaks, Golden Girls, Veronica Mars, Alias (I know it kind of sucked, but I loved it anyway), Sci-fi generally -- Battlestar in particular--, futbol (I spend way too much time watching Fox Soccer and Bein Sports), It's Always Sunny, Arrested Development, Chris Hayes' show on MSNBC (an old friend and my ONLY famous friend...) -- to be honest, I rarely watch (please don't tell him)

Music:
Things that do not suck --
Blondie, Bob Dylan, The Clash, Husker Du, Coheed and Cambria, Anti-Flag, Bessie Smith, The Middle East, Billie Holiday, Billy Bragg, Crass, The Mummies, Stars, Neil Young, the Atlas Sound, Elbow, Dropkick Murphys, Gang of Four, Langhorne Slim, Hank Williams Sr., Lena Horne, Ramones, Deer Tick, Johnny Cash, Bear in Heaven, Nina Simone, Bon Iver, Test Their Logic, Lowkey, Blitzen Trapper, The Coup, Professor Murder, Dirty Projectors, N'dambi, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Elvis Perkins, Bruce Springsteen, Dead Prez, Rebel Diaz, Tha Truth, Joan Baez, Justin Timberlake, Kevin Price, Immortal Technique, Jackson Five, Mischief Brew, Michael Jackson, The Lovely Forest, Marvin Gaye, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Frank Ocean, Edith Piaf, David Rovics, Andrew Bird, The Antlers, Aretha Franklin, The Louvin Brothers, Dead Milkmen, Deerhunter, Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen, Lost in the Trees, M Ward, Mavis Staples, Merle Haggard, Patti Smith, The Pogues, Prince, Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs, The Replacements, The Rolling Stones, Sharon Jones, She and Me, T. Rex, Warren Zevon, White Lung, Frightened Rabbits, Wombats, The xx, The X, The Zombies, The Ink Stains (RIP)... and others -- I basically just pasted a bunch in... and it depends on my mood. I also like seeing Philly punk/hardcore bands live.

Classical music -- I am learning, but so far I love Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Glass, Handel, Haydn, Satie, Schubert, Sibelius

Food:
Most every kind...

My mum (eventually I will have to but I do not like to think about this -- no I am not English, but my parents are Irish, that's why I call her mum and not mom), my friends and the rest of my family, my library, my record player and records (though I don't have enough records and they are expensive), my collective, my psychiatrist --the first one I didn't fire after 3 or fewer visits -- uh-oh, does that make me sound crazy? -- oh well. Oh, and all that shit we all need to live.

Whether I will ever be truly "better" from my depression (able to read more mostly). How evil prisons are, and how evil the vast majority of cops are, and how the fuck I should go about doing something about it. How it sucks to be lonely, but that there are worse things in the world.

At home, at a punk show my friends told me about, or having drinks with (a) friend/s

I cannot dance. That doesn't mean I don't.

If you didn't flinch too badly at this profile; and are not put off by my love of Golden Girls.