An Interview with Asea

The Rules:

1 — Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 — I will respond; I’ll ask you five questions.
3 — You’ll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 — You’ll include this explanation.
5 — You’ll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

M.E., you say, what could have possessed you to get yourself into such a thing? Sigh. Methinks it comes of making friends with people far younger than oneself. Anyway, here goes, keeping it as simple as I can.

1. What is one thing you are proud of that was either self-taught or something you caught onto quickly?

When I was wee, my grandmother signed me up for modern dance classes at Henry Street Settlement. One day Alwin Nikolais, a well known figure in the dance world, happened upon the class while we were doing … umm … whatever it was we were doing (six- or seven-year-old improvisational dance methinks). He commented that I had a natural talent for dance and should take ballet lessons. I won’t say what happened next; suffice it to say I wound up not pursuing a career in dance, although I did study ballet. I still love to dance around, especially in private when no one is looking.

2. What one person (famous or not, living or dead) would you like to meet (for the first time)?

Dear woman … you would have me narrow this down to one person, eh? I would have to say Eleanor Roosevelt would be someone I very much wish I could meet; I’d like to go for a long walk with her. She was an amazing woman.

3. What, in your opinion, are “soul mates” and do you believe in them?

Soul mates are people who are destined to be part of each other. The relationship is eternal and beyond this one lifetime that we have right now. I do believe in them. I do not believe that they always get to meet in this lifetime; and if they do meet, I think that often circumstances might prevent them from spending much of this lifetime together. I also believe that some people are fortunate enough to find their soul mates and live most of their lives with each other. I believe that beyond this life they will spend eternity together. Call me a hopeless romantic; or a hopeful romantic, for that matter. Well … you asked!

4. If you could travel in time to any period in history and be a silent observer, “when” would you go and why?

I would go to the late 14th/early 15th century, after the Black Plague had pretty much passed (thank you very much). A period moving from the medieval age to the Renaissance. I would like to be a silent and invisible observer as I would like to not be Inquisitioned please.

5. In writing, what do you think is my greatest challenge or obstacle?

Your greatest challenge or obstacle is finding the time and space for your mind and soul to go where they need in order to bear fruit and then to write what comes from within. You lack nothing else; you have skill and imagination, and a wondrous amount of experience and knowledge to share. Next on the list, though, would be confidence in your skill, and in the incredible wealth of spirit there is in you that anyone with eyes to read and see would get so much from.