Publication Fair 2010
Dec. 12, 2010 | Ace Hotel Cleaners | Portland, OR
We had a wonderful time meeting everyone and typing LiveLibs for you on our typewriters.
Thanks Publication Studio for organizing such an impressive independent-publishing extravaganza.

Let’s Do Launch
Nov. 2, 2010 | Reading Frenzy | Portland, OR
Thank you all for your hugs and support!

Our day in the studio with Jason Kinney.

bowenames.com
thegenreartist.blogspot.com

What are you afraid of?
Overpopulation. I remember the first time I saw a cage full of mice left to their own devices and rapidly procreating. It was terrifying to realize they had no control over their own reproduction. Humans aren’t much better; we’ve just got a bigger cage. But if we don’t stop the progress of population growth with tact and calm concern, it will be done for us by nature: brutally and without pity. And it will probably
involve zombies.

What were you raised on?
I was raised on word friction. My family used conversation as subtle and clever combat. On my mother’s side we are almost entirely writers. My grandfather was a staff writer for The New Yorker. My mother writes grants and the occasional children’s story. My aunts are both novelists. Growing up, I was always taking notes on the constantly volatile conversations between my mother and her sisters. It was disturbing to onlookers, all of that articulated passion. My dad and brother couldn’t handle it and I didn’t blame them. It takes a real appreciation of rhetoric to endure an argument with my aunts; family dinners sometimes sound like the Beales of Gray Gardens performing a Eugene O’Neill one act play.

What are you doing to become what you have always dreamed of being?
Letting go of things and living minimal. I dream of evolving into a person who isn’t constantly alarmed by loss or change—one well-prepared for the apocalypse, you might say. Working in the arts, where the emphasis is literally all about objects, I’ve come to let go of materialism in my personal life. Just over a year ago I packed my Jeep and drove away from my fully furnished Brooklyn loft with no real plans other than moving to the West Coast. I just wanted to shed my life a little and I knew there was no surving the apocalypse in New York. I gave most of my belongings away and bequeathed the rest to my roommates. I brought one box of books, some clothes, and a few blankets and pillows. Every time I think about the things I left behind I try to make myself get rid of something I have now. It’s sort of a ruthless self-inflicted practice, but objects don’t matter unless you can eat, read, or otherwise survive off them.

What would you be like as a superhero or villain?
Invisible. Or I’d possess the power to make other things/people invisible. The possibilities with invisibility are especially endless for art. Imagine an invisible wet dog shaking off his coat in slow motion. Imagine a marionette performance controlled by an invisible puppeteer. Now imagine a hose streaming with water being used as a lasso by an invisible cowboy. Or an invisible Bjork performing coated in sugar crystals. Or more practically, an invisible person cupping the breasts of a slightly droopy porn actress. I’d be invisible but I’d still work in film and photography. Which isn’t really superhero-esque, but I’m sure would be more lucrative and would definitely make beautiful things happen.

What do you believe in?
Collaboration. Just look at the Little Read Writers. If it weren’t for the collaborative genius behind this group, it’d just be Mark sitting alone at a computer. Actually, it’d be all of us sitting alone at separate computers. Isn’t that depressing? But throw in a meeting once a week or so and BAM! You’ve got things like No. 2 In Your Hands, and rad questionnaires like this one.

What are you afraid of?
My doorway covered in spider webs, blocking my ability to leave. The spiders enacting revenge for all the webs I destroyed. Plunging through them and running from giant, roving, fuzzy fruit bowling down neighborhood streets. All the while running from impending pain, disability, and insanity—the result of a direct blow to the head by an angry bloated peach. Then comes panic in paralysis, and fears of bed-bound aloneness, financial ruin, abject failure, and losing my mind. Nightmares of belly buttons, naked nail-beds, and burgeoning tumors. Schemes enacted by the Disney corporation. Getting ‘in trouble’ and ‘talked to’ on a daily basis. One day an escape route comes in the form of a terrorist taxi delivering me to an airplane. Inside, passengers armed with box cutters and flight attendants shoot me dirty looks as we fall from the sky. I’m also afraid of being in places that are about to close.


What were you raised on?

Neurosis, and nagging, forks flying, dead leaves blowing, playing under power lines, Jackie Collins novels on summer days. Living under the light of the television: Laverne and Shirley, Happy Days, the Flintstones, and Three’s Company—30 minutes away. Toy poodles, watchful and suspicious, under seventies modern furniture. Falling over ice fields, on ski slopes, down, up, down. Running away from community pools and whispers of Jewish judgment. A DeLorean in the school parking lot, a maricon in the making, and escape from school and to school. A ghost of a gold coast with French fries, vinegar, and glow sticks—green like the insides of aliens. Morning sparkles with ocean’s fresh skin and borrowed light from the cover of snow, fresh pavement, and waves in the sky.

What are you doing to become what you have always dreamed of being?
Writing this, enacting ideas, wearing masks, trading skin, forging ahead, eating a mountain, taking notes, reading, going on a diet, working hard, sitting around, caring for others, and trying not to take it all too serious.

What would you be like as a superhero or villain?

As a superhero, I may look something like Droopy Dog, with a fine looking cape, the color of hazel to match my eyes. With super-human strength, underestimated in a small dog, I would tear the shit out of anyone that tries to fuck with you. I would spend the rest of my time ridding the world of war, revenge, extremists, republicans, hate, stink-eye, bad drivers, and silly bands. When my work is done, I would curl up in a ball and
lick myself.

As a villain I would most surely be The Bitch, softly fingering a candy red button unleashing my campaign of tyranny—fattening your mirrors, unflattering your lights, emptying your wallets little by little in the night, and filling you like a bottomless glass of doubt. I’d be your frenemy, not call you back, deliver false texts and take out deep into night. I’d hide one of your things every day. My hands rolling in minimal light, I’d trip you when you least expect it. Woo ha ha ha ha ha!

What do you believe in?
Healing and change, road trips, socialized medicine, the intelligence of poodles, getting crazy, learning and for learning sake. The yellow leaves of aspens taking back Colorado. Fiber cereal is best when 10% of the daily value or higher. The Democratic Party is better. Parental controls are sometimes good. The truth really is stranger than fiction. Zoos should be 10 times the size and closed to the public. Movies are good places to get lost and found. Sunscreen is good and books are best when read. I wish I knew where I was going or where you are. Until then I will wander, outside whenever possible.

What are you afraid of?
Some days I’m afraid of everything and other days I’m
afraid of nothing, but I guess the idea of being scared
scares me the most!!!

What were you raised on?
Kool-aid, Batman, bubblegum tattoos, peer-pressure, tree houses, digging holes, pissing outside, ninja turtles, skateboards, skinned knees, internet porn, black and white movies, peanut butter and jelly, Mozart, the pledge of allegiance, Gene Kelly, strawberry milk, trampolines, backyard baseball, sticks, go-carts, my father’s cynicism, and my mother’s perseverance.

What are you doing to become what you have always dreamed of being?
I want to learn to appreciate what I have at this moment
and not worry too much about the future or things I have
no control over.

What would you be like as a superhero or villain?
I would be a superhero by day and a super villain by night. I’d have really nice clothes and cars and secret libraries and I would live in a shack and become an alcoholic and wallow in my own filth and save the whole world!!!

What do you believe in?
Man, I don’t know!