Take a breather as Chitown Kev does The Proust Questionnaire
by Chitown Kev himself
I’ve been reading those back-page questionnaires in Vanity Fair magazine for years and I just not noticed that those questionnaires are called Proust Questionnaires and for a very good reason:
In the 1880s, long before he claimed his status as one of the greatest authors of all time, teenage Marcel Proust (July 10, 1871–November 18, 1922) filled out an English-language questionnaire given to him by his friend Antoinette, the daughter of France’s then-president, as part of her “confession album” — a Victorian version of today’s popular personality tests, designed to reveal the answerer’s tastes, aspirations, and sensibility in a series of simple questions. Proust’s original manuscript, titled “by Marcel Proust himself,” wasn’t discovered until 1924, two years after his death. Decades later, the French television host Bernard Pivot, whose work inspired James Lipton’s Inside the Actor’s Studio, saw in the questionnaire an excellent lubricant for his interviews and began administering it to his guests in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1993, Vanity Fair resurrected the tradition and started publishing various public figures’ answers to the Proust Questionnaire on the last page of each issue.
(Now that I think about it, I did a “confession album” of my own once in high school (one of those hideous paper bag-colored journals) and very nearly got my a*s kicked for some juicy and incriminating “who was fu*king who” info someone wrote in it...but I won’t bore you with those details.)
Well...I’m not a public figure but I do have some experience with this thing called “confession albums” or “Proust Questionnaires” and I do feel a bit overwhelmed by the news lately so...why not?
I liked the Proust Questionnaires taken by Aretha Franklin and Serena Williams.
Spike Lee’s was...ay’ight but he did not want to spill a lot of tea.
Colson Whitehead’s (which was NOT for Vanity Fair) was pretty good.
And here we go! Here’s the format that I’m following.
1) What is your idea of perfect happiness? Reading, writing, goofing off, watching Michigan football, or napping in a classic English country home library.
2) What is your greatest fear? Drinking and drugging again.
3) What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Procrastination.
4) What is the trait you most deplore in others? Applying standards to others that the person doesn’t apply to themselves.
5) Which living person do you most admire? Mom.
6) What is your greatest extravagance? Hot chili shrimp with a bowl of hot and sour soup (maybe an egg roll to dunk in the soup) from a local Chinese restaurant. (Extravagant both because of the cost and my overall health).
7) What is your current state of mind? A bit agitated by everything that’s been going on in the world the past 6-7 months. The fact that I can control none of it is a part of the agitation. Otherwise, OK.
8) What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Brutal honesty with others.
9) On what occasion do you lie? Oh...well...I say that I’m doing something that I am supposed to be doing when in reality I’m not doing a damn thing. (see question #3)
10) What do you most dislike about your appearance? The five-head (that’s one of the reasons I keep the head bald!).
11) Which living person do you most despise? Donald John Trump.
12) What is the quality you most like in a man? Intelligence.
13) What is the quality you most like in a woman? Intelligence.
14) Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Really? Really.
15) What or who is the greatest love of your life? Family...even though I can't stand their a*s, lol.
16) When and where were you happiest? Carson City, California in 1970 on the front yard of my aunt and uncle’s house blowing bubbles. I’ve had many happy moments and serene moments since then but all of the components have never combined as they did at that time and place. (I was three years old.)
17) Which talent would you most like to have? Painting. (As I’ve gotten older and stopped trying to sing Whitney Houston songs, a lot of people think that I have a voice for opera.)
18) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I wouldn’t take the negative things that people say about me so personally.
19) What do you consider your greatest achievement? I don’t know whether not drinking or drugging can be considered an “achievement” but without it nothing else is possible for me.
20) If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I’d have to think about this one
21) Where would you most like to live? Oh...uh...Istanbul, Turkey? For a year, yeah. (It’s a James Baldwin thing and a classics thing.)
22) What is your most treasured possession? An autograph of James Baldwin with his St. Paul-de-Vence address written on it. All in his handwriting.
23) What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? I wouldn’t wish the depth of substance addiction on my worst enemy.
24) What is your favorite occupation? Besides anything concerning books and writing, taxi driver.
25) What is your most marked characteristic? If I’m honest about it, the swish in my walk.
26) What do you most value in your friends? Trust.
27) Who are your favorite writers? James Baldwin, David Foster Wallace, Jorge Luis Borges (with Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler close behind this top 3)
28) Who is your hero of fiction? Sherlock Holmes.
29) Which historical figure do you most identify with? Herodotus.
30) Who are your heroes in real life? Mom and stepdad for very different reasons.
31) What are your favorite names? I’ve grown to absolutely love my nice Irish-Catholic first name, especially since finding out that I’m named after a saint.
32) What is it that you most dislike? Frequent hypocrisy and sriracha sauce.
33) What is your greatest regret? My choice of university when I graduated high school. I had two alternatives that were much better fits for what I wanted to do.
34) How would you like to die? Slumped over the keyboard inside the answer to the first question. Mid-sentence.
35) What is your motto? A day at a time. If a day is too long, then an hour at a time. If an hour is too long, then a minute at a time.
I have finished The Proust Questionnaire so guess what?
DOCTOR!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Black farmers are bracing for the worst as the Trump administration rolls back needed funding, including millions in grants that it has determined are “woke DEI propaganda.”
“They’re really rolling back the clocks,” said John Boyd Jr., founder of the National Black Farmers Association. In addition to cutting needed financial assistance, the administration’s strong stance against DEI has resulted in Black farmers having challenges accessing bank loans and corporate sponsorships.
“We’re hearing from companies that are running scared of having any sort of partnership with our organization because it has the word ‘Black farmer,'” Boyd told theGrio.
For decades, Black farmers have been fighting for their due after decades of racial discrimination at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While there have been some wins, most notably a 1999 class action lawsuit filed against the USDA resulting in nearly $1 billion in rewards for Black farmers, a whiplash of legal setbacks and regime change has left Black farmers struggling for adequate funding, which has resulted in foreclosures and loss of land.
Following years of advocacy, former President Joe Biden achieved a historic $5 billion in debt relief and assistance for Black farmers and other farmers of color in his 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, citing historic systemic discrimination. The program was described as the greatest benefit for Black farmers since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A new video released by Haitian police a few days ago suggests that a notorious gang leader, Vitel’homme Innocent, who has a $2 million bounty on his head, was under attack and running for cover. Other footage authorities released last month showed explosions coming from the sky.
The unspoken message was clear: The Haitian government, armed with drones, is committed to taking the streets back from violent criminals. Drones fitted with explosives are Haiti’s latest desperate effort to curb rampant violence that has forced 1.3 million people from their homes.
After more than three months of drone strikes in Haiti’s capital, most of which is under gang control, attacks appear to have lessened. But no gang territory has been retaken, and though one top gang leader was reported to have been wounded recently, not a single high-value target has been killed or captured. Now, in a surprising rebuke, the Canadian police, which has provided drones to Haiti, are calling the government’s strikes illegal.
Drone strikes have reportedly killed more than 300 gang members in Port-au-Prince, the capital, according to a leading human rights group. Gangs have retaliated against the attacks by killing at least four civilians.
Why are drones being used?
The Haitian government has been fighting a losing battle against Viv Ansanm, a coalition of gangs that formed last year and attacked government institutions like police stations and jails. The gangs, which raise money through extortion, kidnappings and tolls at illegal roadblocks, now control more than 80% of Port-au-Prince.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Cape Town, South Africa, one of the world’s foremost H.I.V. researchers has been spending a chunk of each day gently telling longtime workers and young doctoral students that the money is gone and so are their jobs. When the calls are done, she weeps in her empty office.
In the heart of Johannesburg, the lobby of a building that once housed hundreds of scientists is empty of people but choked with discarded office furniture and heaps of files hastily gathered from shuttered research sites.
South Africa has for decades been a medical research powerhouse, yet its stature has been little known to people outside the field. South Africa’s scientists have been responsible for key breakthroughs against major global killers, including heart disease, H.I.V. and respiratory viruses such as Covid-19. They have worked closely with American researchers and have been awarded more research funding from the United States than any other country has received.
But a swift series of executive orders and budget cuts from the Trump administration have, in a matter of months, demolished this research ecosystem.
There are grim ramifications for human health worldwide, and also for pharmaceutical companies, including American giants such as Pfizer, Merck, Abbott and Gilead Sciences, which rely heavily on South Africa’s research complex when they develop and test new drugs, vaccines and treatments.
“South Africa is the beacon,” said Dr. Harold Varmus, a professor at Weil Cornell Medicine who was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for his work on cancer biology and who was a director of the National Institutes of Health.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WELCOME TO THE TUESDAY PORCH
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE BLACK KOS COMMUNITY, GRAB A SEAT, SOME CYBER EATS, RELAX, AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF.
