on jereme dean

Brandon Scott Gorrell has organized this: a time in space where many internet people blog about other internet people. Most of the people are writers. Jereme Dean is one of them. I was assigned to write about Jereme. I'm glad I was. Here is what I've learned about Jereme based on a long email conversation:

1. Jereme would recommend that all humans read You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense by Charles Bukowski. I haven't read this book. Jereme says it has caused deep emotion in him. He has read a lot of Bukowski.
2. Jereme taught me that Shel Silverstein wrote A Boy Named Sue. He thinks that Dr. Suess would beat Silverstein in a clean fist-fight. I disagree.
3. Jereme likes many internet people, and mentioned many of the people I have linked to on the right side of this blog. GOOD JOB INTERNET WRITERS.
4. We agree: Writers are not precious. Words are not precious. Once you've written them, let go, they're not yours, they are 'ours'.
5. Jereme has many posts on his blog I've enjoyed reading and agreed with. This is one of them, this is another.
6. My favorite Jereme Dean quote: LOVE IS OUTWARD
7. We talked about arbitrary differences between the nature of 'scene' and 'community'. We disagreed, a little. I don't want to write about it here, sldfkjdklsjflsd
8. Jereme has dealt drugs, been a drug addict, been arrested, been homeless many times, been gang affiliated, shoplifted for a year to survive, and slept on a couch for a year. He has overcome all of this 'on his own'. GOOD JOB JEREME DEAN, SERIOUSLY
9. Jereme has extensive movie knowledge, but I stumped him with Michael Haneke. Watch those movies, Jereme.
10. Jereme's Two Minute Mind
    
11. We agree on politics: NO
12. Where Jereme sees himself in 10 years (answered with a YouTube video):

Chris Killen asked me that final question for his thing about me.

I have tried to keep this post short. I like shorter blocks of words on the internet.

Thanks Jereme. Thanks everyone. Thanks Internet. THANKS BRAIN.

Here is a list of everyone's thing, I like them all and read them all:

Blake Butler writes about Mike Bushnell
Brandon Gorrell writes about Colin Bassett
Chris Killen writes about Ken Baumann
Colin Bassett writes about Chris Killen
Connor O'Brien writes about Tao Lin
Gena Mohwish writes about Sam Pink
Gene Morgan writes about Noah Cicero
Jereme Dean writes about Blake Butler
Jillian Clark writes about Kathryn Regina
Justin Rands writes about Matthew Savoca
Kathryn Regina writes about Kendra Malone
Kendra Malone writes about Brandon Gorrell
Matthew Savoca writes about Gena Mohwish
Mike Bushnell writes about Zachary German
Noah Cicero writes about Shane Jones
Sam Pink writes about Justin Rands
Shane Jones writes about Jillian Clark
Stephen Daniel Lewis writes about Two Tears Boy
Tao Lin writes about Gene Morgan
Two Tears Boy writes about Connor O'Brien
Zachary German writes about Stephen Daniel Lewis

ZACHARY GERMAN INTERVIEW 2

This is part two of a planned fifty-five part (that was made up, we have no plans) interview series between Zachary German and I. Part 1 is here.

Ken: I will ask the first question, now. I hope you want to be interviewed right now.
Zachary, first question: When you feel completely uninspired, bored, and alone, what do you do?

Zachary: I read blogs. I play tetris. I listen to the album Bright Flight by Silver Jews. I drink water. I look out the window. I make my bed.

K: For the remainder of this interview, I will be drinking water. I hope this does not affect our interview.
Zachary, where do you want to live?

Z: I would like to live, starting March 1st of this year, in Brooklyn, New York. I want there to be trees. If I could buy organic fruits and vegetables within five minutes from my house it would make me feel happy sometimes.

K: I watched the movie Atonement today and liked it. Have you ever seen a movie that made you pull at your own hair and go kind of "crazy" afterwards? Atonement did not make me do this, but I still am asking if you have.

Z: There was a part in What Gets Me Hot! where a man was performing cunnilingus on a woman and she looked bored and she said "Do you mind if I smoke while you eat?" That part of that movie made me feel excited and uncontrollably happy for a short time. I felt crazy right then I think maybe, I'm not sure. I felt sad and happy at the same time. I feel stupid right now. I didn't like that movie overall. When I saw The Sixth Sense in the theater with my parents I got really scared and had to sleep in their bedroom for a couple weeks or something. I think that is the closest to "crazy" that I have ever been as a direct result of seeing a movie. I don't have anything against this question but can you make the next one more relaxing?
I'm sorry if that is a bad request.

K: Okay, this will be a relaxing question, and I don't think that was a bad request. What are three of your favorite words to type?

Z: Ugh, okay, and tired.

K: One last question: Save Darfur or save the American poor?
I'm going to ask you the last question again because I feel like you didn't get it, or got it and have been ignoring me, or maybe have felt too busy to answer it. Okay. Save Darfur or save the American poor?

Z: Make eating organic or locally produced food your priority? I don't know. I haven't considered all of the factors of any problem. I don't think Darfur vs. the American poor is going to come my way, directly, so I doubt I will attempt to consider all factors.

ZACHARY GERMAN INTERVIEWED ME

Zachary German interviewed me on his blog. Here's the interview.

I think these are two good, honest interviews. I'm glad we did them. I made typos in some of my responses, but I don't mind.

INTERVIEW WITH ZACHARY GERMAN

I interviewed Zachary German through email. Here's the interview.

K: First question.

Zachary, this will be the first question in this interview. It will not be very serious. Which animal do you think is more indifferent to it's surroundings, sheep or a large spider, like a tarantula?

Z: I think a sheep is more indifferent to its surrounding than a large spider, like a tarantula.

K: That was a very direct answer. I feel good about this interview.
Do you think that there should be more books written about young people doing normal things while bored or indifferent?

Z: Yes. Tao Lin's Eeeee Eee Eeee and Noah Cicero's The Human war are two recent examples of this type of novel. They make the world seem easier to understand, but not in a numbing way, like after you smoke marijuana. After I read Eeeee Eee Eeee I wanted to eat good food and clean my house and take a long bike ride. I'm not sure if that is the usual response. I'm not sure how I should answer a question that starts with "Do you think that there should be...". I think I would be happier if there were more books like that. I'm not sure. Maybe there are already a lot of books like that that I just don't know about. I think young people would be happier or more productive or some other version of the abstraction "good" if they read books about young people doing normal things while bored or indifferent. I hope I have managed to answer your question at least once.

K: I feel like you have. After I read Eeeee Eee Eeee I took pictures of things in my kitchen and looked at them and felt proud of the pictures. I also felt like talking to people honestly. Your reaction sounds like a "good" one, too.

You are writing a novel, I think. When you are done writing your novel, what will you do with it?

Z: Currently, a five thousand word excerpt from my novel is in submission status at an online publication. Right now I have written between fifteen and twenty thousand words total. When I have written twenty five thousand to thirty thousand words, I will show it to my friends who are published and hope that they will make it be published too.

K: I think that is a good strategy. If someone wanted to pay you $50,000 to write a 600 page book about cultural divide and multi-generational family drama taking place in 1930's Poland, would you do it? The person with the money will only pay you if you if the book wins the NBA and a Pulitzer. So it's a gamble, essentially. Would you try it?

Z: No. Would you?

K: No. I think that was a bad interview question. I will give you one more and that will be all. This will be a short interview, and that will be good.
Do you think the American youth is fucked?

Z: I think the American youth has a lot of opportunities to understand themselves or something. I'm not sure. I feel like there are less constraints in some ways. I am happy that there is the internet I think. I'm not sure what fucked means in this sense. I think that maybe more than before, the American youth is doomed to knowing that their existence is meaningless. I'm not sure. I feel nervous writing about concepts.