Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge

Last week, Neil of Citizen of the Month proved once again why he is the Honorary Mayor of Blogville when he offered up a simple proposition: Everyone is somebody. To prove his point, he threw down The Great Interview Challenge. I'm so glad he did. Because I was one of a cast of thousands who agreed to play along, and as a result, I had the opportunity to meet a new-to-me blogger who goes by the very cool nom de plume, Tiddlywink.

And now, again thanks to Neil, I've got the opportunity to introduce her to all of you. So without further ado...

The Great Tiddlywink Interview

Jennifer: Why do you blog and how long have you been at it now?

Tiddlywink: I blog for the attention! We all do... otherwise, we'd keep diaries. It's really a creative writing exercise for me. I try to choose my words carefully, and to sound like the kind of person I'd like to hang out with. I hope that attracts the kind of people who would like to hang out with me. :) I started blogging on MySpace in September of 2005, but it took me a couple of years to take myself (and my readers, I still have a hard time accepting that I have regular readers) seriously enough to move everything over to Wordpress this past November. The only thing I might add, if it doesn't offend readers, is that I honestly don't know why I blog. Or, I guess, why people read it, although I love that people do. Guy Kawasaki once defined a blogger as "Someone with nothing to say writing for people with nothing to do." Granted, he did that in the masthead of his blog, but still. It's funny, because it's true.

J: On your 'About' page, your friend Erin talks about your clever t-shirts with their erudite wit. Can you give us some examples?

TW: (Note: you're the only other person I've ever met to use the word "erudite" and I think we should be friends Heh, heh.) Yes, I seem to have a penchant for the somewhat obscure reference. I don't do it to exclude anyone, I just happen to have a fondness for my particular field of work. My newest shirt is from Veer and is a 5-pointed star with SERIF written in it. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to anyone until I start making sheriff/serif puns. "I shot the serif. There's a new serif in town. HAhahaha." My sister found a shirt for me that reads THIS IS NOT MY FONT. The t-shirt that reads Electric Fetus isn't anything punny, it's the name of an independent record store that I'm fond of in Minneapolis.

J: We have a lot in common, what with the jewelry making, our introduction to Obama, our knowledge of printing presses, and our love of cooking. But the shoes. Can we talk? Tell me about the love of the shoes.

TW: Mmmm, shoes. I don't know where it stems from, but I can't think of a time in my life where I didn't obsess a bit over footwear. I had really crappy feet as a kid and was forced to wear clunky, ugly shoes. No boots, no clogs, no sneakers, no ice skates... just Buster Browns with special inserts. My sister, also obsessed but never burdened with the muscle problems I had, has always had great shoes. It pained me that all I could do was look at them. My dad, noting my misery (and that I was still pigeon-toed anyway) overrode the podiatrist's recommendations when I was about 12, and I am eternally grateful. My first part-time job, at 16, was at a shoe store. And my sister did bestow upon me one particular pair of early-'80s-era Zodiac western boots of hers that I had always loved. When I outgrew them, I traded them to a smaller-footed friend for the vintage Dan Post boots I have now. Everything works out the way it's supposed to.

J: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Are you what you want to be, career-wise, now that you *are* grown up?

TW: I wanted to be an artist. I know, it's pretty vague. I didn't understand all of the intricacies of business at that time. I'm a graphic designer now, so I'd say that worked out rather well. My dad is a graphic designer, but he never consciously encouraged me to follow in his footsteps. In fact, he downright discouraged me at times. But he's as pleased as Punch now. Some people struggle to figure out where they fit in life, but I've been lucky and never strayed from the path of communications design. I was in high school before it ever occurred to me that SOMEONE has to run telephone wires and stuff.

For me, it was always obvious. I'd graduate high school, go to art school, and get a job as a graphic designer. Done, done, and done. There was a period of time where I changed my concentration from graphic design to photography, and I have enough college credits in both to consider either to be my "major," but design-for-print is where my heart is. Right now I wear the lofty title of Art Director, but I'm a lot more hands-on than that would imply. I love production work! I spent years in the trenches doing prepress, and it was an invaluable education.

J: What's the best thing about where you live?

TW: Denver has the best weather. It sounds like a goofy thing to say, but we really have a terrific climate. We have four seasons, and they tend to bump into each other and overlap in amusing ways. Snow in May, t-shirts in December, that kind of thing. It's nearly always sunny. As for the culture... I'm originally from the NYC area, so I'm a pretty tough critic. That being said, we have some wonderful restaurants and the art museum, while small by Big City standards, has a great collection and really dedicated curators.

J: If you had to describe to a non-blogger what being part of this big, wonderful blogger community is like, what would you say?

TW: Am I part of the community? It's a little weird to be a member of a group people whom I haven't, for the most part, met. And yet the bloggers I read are the personal writers, so I'm invited over for virtual coffee every day. I also follow a few via Twitter, which makes stalking seem like acceptable behavior.

J: To close, can you say a few words about Neil, our fearless interview instigator?

TW: Ah, Neil. I'll never forget our impromptu brunches on the floor of a poorly-furnished, unheated walk-up apartment in the 11th arrondissement during our year in Paris. That man mixes one heck of a Bloody Mary. Odd, though, how many of my bras were "lost" in the laundry.

_______________________________________

Tiddlywink, it was an honor and a privilege to interview you. Thanks for playing along and for being such a great interviewee!

P.S. To read all the interviews as they get posted, click here.

Comments

[Nichole]

Another great interview! This is a great project.

[Neil]

Great interview. and the minute Tiddlewink answered "I blog for the attention," I knew I liked her. What could be more honest?!

[wordnerd]

Thanks for the update on the haircut -- of course, after I posted that comment, I saw that you had already addressed it in the haircut post comments. Regardless, I really needed to know, so thanks for indulging me.

On my to-do list: Get. A. Life.

Sheesh.

[Gillian/Tiddleywink]

Ladies, ladies, "fetish" is such a strong word. How about "fine appreciation of" or something?

Jennifer - Thanks for a fun interview! I look forward to reading all about you on Mrs. Mogul's blog.

[MotherPie]

You've always hit the nail on the head on blogging and the community and reasons to, etc. Good post.

[Jennifer]

Neil actually instructed us to do it however we wanted, and in looking at the other interviews already posted, the interview-ers have been the ones doing the posting in every example so far. Which seemed like a good idea to me, seeing as it would introduce a new "audience" to the blogger being interviewed as opposed to giving regular readers more of what they already know. Or something. Yanno?

But it really matters not, to me. I'm happy to post mine here rather than there...whatever works!

[mrs mogul]

Oh nO! But Neil said for us to post our own interviews. Oh well! I guess I will post yours on mine.

[Jennifer]

The haircut falls somewhere in the middle of #1 and #2, but much more silvery than either of them. #3 is still being taken under advisement for a future date. ;-)

[wordnerd]

Oh, and by the way ... what happened with the haircut?

[wordnerd]

Don't know if it was the interviewer, or the interviewee, or a combination of the two, but I think I likes me some tiddlywinks and am heading over to pay her a visit!

[Jennifer]

Good, good. It would never do to leave you scratching your head...

;-)

[colleen]

My bad. I read the lead in too quickly and must have skipped over a sentence. So carry on ... all is well and normal.

[Jennifer]

Dude...I interviewed Tiddlywink, who is from Denver, and who answered the questions I posed above. Is that unclear in my lead in?

I am in NC, just as you suspected, and have no shoe fetish of which to speak.

[Diane Mandy]

Great interview and answers. I'm headed over to check Tiddlywink out.

[colleen]

Denver? How did I not know that. Why did I imagine you were from NC? She says as she scratches her head) and tries to remember what else she wanted to say something about foot and shoe fetishes running in her family.