Interview notes 1 (January 2023)

Tell me about yourself

"Tell me about yourself. Not as the chronicler, that’ll come later, but as the person."

I was born in Minneapolis in 1961. Grew up in a middle-class household in a nice neighborhood. My parents were both liberal intellectuals who encouraged reading, art, science — whatever I wanted to study, they encouraged it.

My dad read science fiction, so I was exposed at an early age to the works of Philip K. Dick, John Brunner, and Bruce Sterling, among other writers.

Satire appealed to me very early in life. I remember being eight or nine years old. My dad worked for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, so we got the paper delivered free. Dad had a custom: on Sunday mornings, he would make a big skillet breakfast for the family, with cinnamon rolls and orange juice. After breakfast we would all — Mom, Dad, my brother Geoff, and myself — would sit down in the living room and read the Sunday paper. For the kids, this meant reading the funny pages. Then the real fun began. Dad would pull out this book of classical art prints, so thick old volume. He would pick out some particular plate: I recall one with Napoleon atop a rearing horse. Dad would pick a comic panel, carefully cut out a talk balloon, and paste it over Napoleon's head. I forget what the talk bubble said, but whatever it was, we found it hilarious.

Another pleasure from around that time was Wacky Packages. Oh, I loved Wacky Packages!