i am alt lit | I AM ALT LIT interview '#4'

I AM ALT LIT interview ‘#4’ :: megan boyle

here are some ‘questions’:

1) where are you answering these ‘questions’? what are your ‘surroundings’ like?

Sitting to the left of my boyfriend on our bed. Two fans are blowing on us at full speed and “Blinded by the Light” by Bruce Springsteen is playing on his computer. He is tweeting. My legs are extended and my back is against the headboard. I’m drinking a glass of white wine from a box. There are two stuffed animals, five pillows, and five thin layers of blankets on the bed.

Now it’s five days later and I’m going to edit/proofread what I wrote earlier. Currently sitting alone at the kitchen table with two fans blowing on me. An intense reggaeton song is playing loudly next door.

2) do you consider yourself part of alt lit? do you like alt lit? are you confused about what alt lit ‘is’?

Think I view myself in relation to alt lit the same way I view myself in relation to any community—I feel like an outsider, by default. Thoughts I have about myself as a “part” of anything are mostly just like “Am I similar to [grouping of things]?” Pretty sure I never think things like “I’m a part of the [white, American, alt lit, female, meat-eating, etc.] community.” I like some authors/pieces of writing I associate with alt lit and don’t feel interested in others. Overall I’m glad it exists. It’s interesting to look at the interent and witness this unifying, underlying, hard-to-define thing through people’s reactions to each other and writing they produce. I’m not confused about what alt lit is, to me.

3) I AM ALT LIT rated ‘selected unpublished blog posts of a mexican panda express employee’ a 92.1. Do you feel like this is an ‘accurate’ score? Why/why not?

I feel like it’s an accurate score according to the reviewer. Seems…impossible to argue that. That’s just what they thought. If someone told me “I haven’t wanted a hotdog in months” I wouldn’t respond by saying “That seems inaccurate to me.”

4) do you feel that ‘selected unpublished blog posts of a mexican panda express employee’ got enough attention? not enough attention? and why?

I’m happy about the amount of attention it’s received. Also think it would be ideal if every person alive had a copy, so I’d have more opportunities to meet people similar to me and maybe get rich.

5) how many times approximately in yr life have you ‘gone’ to panda express?

I have no memory of ever eating food from Panda Express. I’ve seen it at a lot of malls. Seems like I must’ve eaten there, at some point. I’ve definitely eaten food from Sarku Japan more than Panda Express.

6) seems like you were ‘married’ to tao lin, but no ‘longer.’ is that ‘true’?

We got married in November 2010 and separated mutually in October 2011. I check the “Separated” or “Single” box on legal forms.

7) what is the status of your ‘filmmaking’? is this something you are still ‘pursuing’?

There are plans for a fourth MDMAfilms movie. Think it’ll probably get made after Tao finishes his novel and I do other things for awhile. I’m not currently interested in filmmaking but feel open to doing it in the future.

8) what is the status of your ‘writing’? will you write some ‘more’?

I write a weekly column called “Boyle’s Brains” for Vice magazine’s website (http://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/gsearch?q=%22boyle%27s+brains%22). Currently pursuing a career in truck driving. I’d like to write more.

9) do you want to be ‘successful’ in writing?

Yes.

10) what did or what will you have for lunch?

I ate a nectarine at 9AM and didn’t eat again until around 7PM (“650 calorie” seafood-pasta dish with salad and a breadstick from the Olive Garden).

11) what was the last book/movie/ or ‘internet video’ you read/watched? what was your opinion of it?

Book: almost finished “Ninety Days” by Bill Clegg. I like it a lot, maybe more than “Portraits of an Addict as a Young Man.” Some parts seem really beautiful to me. Identify with his description of feeling like everyone alive received a manual about how to live and he didn’t.

Movie: saw the new “Batman” movie tonight after the Olive Garden. Seemed hard to understand what people were saying. Idly hoped someone would ambush the theater and shoot me, but also planned my escape route, should that happen. I can’t tell if the guy who shot the 70 people at the “Batman” screening identified more with Batman or the bad guy.

Internet Video: I watched a lot of YouTube videos about the “Hollow Earth” conspiracy this weekend. This one seems sweet/concise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3nFB0LkKUE&feature=plcp

12) what else should i ask about?

Whatever you want.

13) please write some words about yrslf that could function as a ‘bio’.

Megan Boyle is 26 and lives in Philadelphia. She is interested in setting up a permanent arrangement to buy Adderall, Concerta, or Vyvanse from you via mail/Paypal, please email themeganboyle@gmail.com for more information.

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