Weehawken Grabbler

Name:

Name for me or name for you? Or name for the site? I love the name "Quatermass". "Weehawken Grabbler" has a sort of rattling appeal as well.

Hometown:

Glassboro NJ, or Philadelphia PA. I guess it depends on who's asking me to come and give a lecture.

What is a cliche that you just can't stand and what was one time someone said it to you?

"You wouldn't understand." It's sad when people make sweeping generalizations, but it's painful when they're directed, and made to discount you. I had a girlfriend in college who said "you wouldn't understand" when talking about something I believed passionately about and it felt like I'd been punched after the bell, like anything I said after that would just be attributed to sycophantic parroting rather than my own heartfelt belief.

Imagine that a swanky bar has named a cocktail after you. What's in it?

a bucket of bottom shelf scotch, a bag of peat moss, and a Bantam paperback copy of Tristram Shandy.

What is your favorite black and white movie?

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Who was the first cat you ever met?

Jenny Barrette. A fat tomcat my sister picked out at the animal shelter when she was five. It was sort of like naming a heavyweight boxer "petunia" but it seems appropriate.

What is your least favorite smell?

cigarette smoke.

Do you have a blog or a website that you'd like to plug?

Katie West is a marvelous writer and a wonderful photographer: http://katiewest.ca/ she makes me sad, and she makes me happy -- she's so talented. And of course www.livejournal.com -- which I think is still the best blogging platform.

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Kyle Cassidy is one of my favorite photographers and a friend to kitties everywhere. His literary exploits, vegan recipes, adorable animals and adventures with his glamorous wife are chronicled on his Live Journal where he has scores of readers. Check out his website at http://www.kylecassidy.com/. (This description makes him sound a little bit like a goth version of the Pioneer Woman.)

I once held an infamous potato salad cook off at my house and one of my new friends brought his girlfriend. I had met her on a camping trip and she seemed pretty cool. Small worlds collided when she noticed my copy of Armed America and turned to her page in the book! She had met Kyle in person when he gave her a photo enlarger and he took her picture for the book. Crazy.