The Great Interview Project

You gotta hand it to a guy who, in his search for fame in blogland, realizes that he might not be alone. A guy who looks up from his computer and thinks, hey, there are probably loads of other people in the exact same state and they’re just as worthy.

Props to Citizen of the Month Neil for creating the Great Interview Experiment. Meet your online neighbor (who could be anywhere) and introduce them to your readers, that’s the gist. I liked the idea a lot – I’ve met some swell humans through the web (Hello, expats and former expats!) so I wanted in. Plus, Neil’s no amateur when it comes to the Web – how’s that Technorati ranking now? – and I can see how this project would be a great way to bring new readers to NEV.

I was interviewed by Ascender, a visual artist who blogs here, and I’ve interviewed McKay. It’s tough to interview a total stranger so first, I cruised her blog to see if I could find out who she was. I had a little brain seizure over her politics, but I told myself, hey, you’re just meeting your neighbors, you don’t have to have a debate. Say hello, already, and stop being such a bore.

Okay then. Here’s McKay. She’s a divorced mom, directs live theater, is politically conservative, is candid about her life, and likes lower case. My e-talk with McKay is below the jump.

Why did you start blogging?

i have absolutely no idea why i started blogging, other than it looked
like a fun phenomenon and i wanted to be a part of it. i think i had
to open an account so i could post comments. commenting is most of the
fun. i enjoy making blogger buddies and getting to know them, their
families, trials and tribulations.  in the past few years iíve seen
relationships blossom, engagements, babies be born, graduations,
deaths of loved one’s life. making friends as an adult is difficult to
say the least. making friends online gives me joy, with the added
benefit an outlet for expressing my own joy, sorrow, failures and
successes.

Right to the personal. If you could pass on one lesson about divorce
to all the people you know sitting on the precipice, what would it be
(FYI, been there, done that and have an answer myself, but don’t want
to lead yours.)

wow.  let’s see if i can do this question justice.  i know marriage is
full of many things – joy, grief, arguments, compromise, etc.. but the
key is that it ultimately needs lots nurturing and basic hard work to
make a marriage last a lifetime. when all of that doesn’t work out,
divorce seems like the only solution to something broken. but if
children are involved, the ‘solution’ of divorce takes away one set of
problems and gives a new set of bigger problems that wreak the most
pain on the children.

if i had known that when i was a 30 year old youngish wife, i would
have fought harder to keep my hubby from leaving me. i gave up way too
easily, because i wanted him to love me on his own accord and not feel
compelled to find comfort, fun and a fling in someone else’s arms. did
i answer the question or just blather on?

my basic advice is this: there are the three A’s that warrant divorce.
Abuse, Addiction, Adultery. if these things are going on and the
pattern is continuous without hope of recovery. get out.  if these
things aren’t going on, and you can work together with a common goal
towards understanding, healing and growth, then do whatever you can to
make it work. divorce sucks. divorce with kids involved is a tragedy
that is all too common nowadays.

How’s the search for Darcy going?

*sigh*  this in reference to a specific blog post back in october, 07.
dating, in of itself, is a big step forward for me. it’s taken me five
years to realize i don’t want to be a hermit and i’m just now
venturing out to check out the world and all it has to offer.

truth be told, i’ve probably found my mark darcy. someone who loves me
just as i am.  i just don’t love him back. why is love so friggin’
complicated?

What’s your day job and do you like it?

i rarely talk about my job, as i don’t want my company to find any
reason to call me into HR for a talk.  i am the assistant to the SVP /
CIO of a major public company. it’s a challenge, in that the CIO
position has been in flux for several years, since my original boss
resigned. my dream CIO (the one who resigned for a better gig) said i
was the best assistant she’d ever had. now i must prove myself worthy
to my newest CIO, who just started a few weeks ago. so far so good :0)

If you could do anything you wanted for a living, what would it be?

ever since i was a kid i dreamed of being an actress for a living.
i’ve been in shows since i was a kid and was on the brink of a budding
career in my late twenties then a couple of big bumps in the road
happened and i put my dream aside. basically i didn’t want it bad
enough to put my wants, needs and goals over my family’s.

now i’ve rediscovered my love of directing theatre and am tossing
around the idea of doing more..if i can figure out a way to juggle
family and career on my own as a divorced mom.

You’re a conservative. What do you think about the current state of
the Republican party?

i like following politics, but hate talking about it. my parents met
at a young replicans’ mixer, i danced with barry goldwater as a young
tike, and my mom eventually was in charge of all of orange county’s
voting centers on election day, so i grew up in an atmosphere of
learning to be informed and always voting.  it’s my right and
responsibility as an american.

to be honest, i’ve had my hands full keeping my emotional head above
water, my job in tact and my lawyers in the black, so i haven’t been
following all the details of politics lately. i read some of the
articles, most of the headlines and listen to conservative talk radio
while i drive. my favorite commentator is dennis prager. he is fair,
superbly intelligent and compassionate. i should learn to listen to
pod casts, as i rarely get to listen to him during the day.

i’m currently not so impressed with my republican leaders, but i
believe in the principles of conservatism – having local community
helping each other instead of depending on welfare systems. neither
party’s perfect, but i believe in working hard to get ahead instead of
a victim mentality with the hand out for a lifetime of help.

Live theater. So cool. Talk a little bit about how you became
involved and what you do.

i’ve loved live theatre ever since kindergarten, where i gave my first
performance in ‘Smokey the Bear and the Careless Campers’. my
childhood best friend’s dad was an actor and i saw all the excitement,
perks and wonder of being in the entertainment business. my mom loved
to sing show tunes around the house, so her enthusiasm must have
rubbed off on me, as well.

i chose to major in professional studies and fine arts at san diego
state university.  i studied acting and directing and loved learning
all the nuance and techniques of the craft. i’ve been on stage too
many times to count, i’ve been fortunate to meet and work with some
amazing people, famous and not so famous. people are amazing
creatures. i truly enjoy interacting with talented and creative
people.

lately, i’ve become more interested in directing and am starting to
research getting more involved in that venue.

In high school, which cliche did you belong to? Cheerleaders,
nerds, burnouts…

one of the interesting things about performers is that even if we love
to stand on stage in front of hundreds of people, and emote words from
a script, most of us are insecure and a bit introverted, even
melancholy at times.  well, at the start of my freshman year, i was
kinda shy & insecure and wanted super bad to be in the popular group.
i tried out for cheerleader, made the squad and hung out with the
popular gals for a year or two. i decided being popular was too much
work and eventually fell into a more comfortable place with the middle
of the road gals -  nice, normal, average looking and kind. hanging
out with them was easy, fun and not nearly as much pressure as hanging
out with the cool kids.

Travel is kinda my thing, so…best place you’ve ever been or, if
you’re not a traveler yourself, place you’d go given the chance?

the place i want to visit again is italy. i completely fell in love
with that country…the language, the people, the food, the history,
the architecture…loved everything about it.

one place i want to go where i’ve never been before: up north to see
the aurora borealis.

The internet. It’s freakin’ amazing. See how we’re doing this now?
What’s your favorite thing about the Web?

quick reference researching and the ability to find answers in a
flash. i use google maps almost every day. these are great tools for
being an awesome assistant.

Here’s the Life and Times of McKay. Go say hi.
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Adminstrivia items:

While we’re traveling, guest blogger Lisa will be giving blogging a whirl. She’s a fine writer but new to blogging, so be nice. I’ll try to post from SE Asia, but I don’t know what kind of opportunities or time we’ll have to do so.

Hello, have you not voted to send me to Martinique yet? What’s up with that? (Yes, this tiresome pleading will end soon.)