Being Amber Rhea

Check out these interviews Rachel Kramer Bussel did with me, Viviane, and Twanna. They’re a precursor to an upcoming Huffington Post piece. Here’s an excerpt from my interview:

How do you see the “sexual community” where you live vs. the community you’ve found online? What do online communities offer that offline ones don’t regarding sexual openness?

It’s not always a simple matter of delineating “online” and “offline” community; the beauty of social media is that those barriers are breaking down. My online community is my offline community. Maybe not all the time, when things like geographic distance comes into play; but all these people who knew of each other thanks to the internet came together at Sex 2.0 and had a really kick-ass time in Atlanta.

But speaking of geographic barriers, online community can fill the gaps when people aren’t able to get together IRL. If you live in an isolated area, you might feel pretty cut off from others who share your sexual interests; but with access to the internet, suddenly you’re not so alone anymore.

Also, online, people may feel more comfortable talking about things that are painful or embarrassing for them to discuss face-to-face. This is a useful facet of online community regardless of what one’s offline community looks like.

Jenny and Ren have been asking, so I should actually answer!

I think it went really well. It was actually more of a “pre-interview” though… the guy said they were trying to figure out the best way to cover Sex 2.0. Their program airs on Saturday, and he asked about doing live mini-interviews from the conference over Skype, but I had to be honest and told him our internet connection probably wouldn’t be all that reliable. He said they might try to book an NPR studio in Atlanta on Friday and do a pre-recorded interview, but that his team was going to have a meeting first and he’d be in touch.

So far I haven’t heard anything else; but either way, I think it was a good experience for me - even though (or maybe because) I was totally nervous the whole time and trying to make myself not be nervous.

Jenny said, “You do this kind of thing all the time!” and I had to laugh… yeah, I do podcasts all the time. This just seems a little different! ;)

Dacia asked if I was nervous talking to media, or if I was just nervous because it was the freakin’ BBC. Definitely the latter!

Anyway, it was interesting, exciting, and nerve-racking, and who knows, maybe there will be more interviews like this in my future. We’ll see!

Back in August, when Rusty and I were staying at The Highland Inn while our AC was on the fritz (the first time around, that is), we discovered that the Atlanta Cupcake Factory had just opened up next door. Given our predicament, we figured we deserved to treat ourselves. We also talked to the owner, who said she was “experimenting” with a retail location, and was planning to keep the store open only one or two days a week.

Six months later, business is booming, and there’s a lengthy interview up with owner Jamie Fahey at Cupcakes Take the Cake. My only problem with the Atlanta Cupcake Factory, and a lot of cupcakes in general, is that the cupcakes are almost too beautiful to eat. (Almost.)

If you’re not at church, you can catch a ~5-minute interview with me on Technology for Business Sake, this Sunday, 11:00 a.m. on Business Radio 1160 (WCFO). I talk about PodCamp Atlanta and the Georgia Podcast Network, and use the word “leverage” and the phrase “increase your customer base.” If you miss it, don’t fret; a podcast version will be posted the following day.

Update: The interview is now available on the Technology for Business Sake web site.

Speaking of PodCamp Atlanta, check this shit out:

We have an unbanner!

And unbags!

And unprizes!

(More)

Bill Palmer’s interview with me is now up on iProng Radio! I talk about PodCamp Atlanta, naturally, as well as the Georgia Podcast Network, podcasting in general, blogging, and I rant a bit about new media vs. old media. Give it a listen. :)

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of podcasts, also check out:

• Politics is Vocal: Jmac’s interview with David Hamilton, candidate for Athens-Clarke County Commission in District 8
• Politics is Vocal: Jmac’s interview with Andy Herod, candidate for Athens-Clarke County Commission in District 8
• Mostly ITP: Rusty’s and my interview with Kiki Carr, founder of PinkEye (previously mentioned here)

I think that covers it for now!

Btw, completely unrelated to any of this - I’m going to a Billy Joel concert tonight. Yay!

podcampatlanta

Check out my interview with Raye Andrews, owner of Aphrodite’s Toybox. Remembering that people like her are out there makes me feel a little less pissed off at the world today.

The interview I alluded to in my AEA wrap-up post is finally available for download via - you guessed it! - the Georgia Podcast Network. In case you’ve forgotten, I talked with Eric Meyer, Jeffrey Zeldman, and Jason Santa Maria.

I think the podcast turned out really well - though Zeldman was a little distraught over the lack of editing done to the meat of the interview. We Rusty did some editing - leveled off the volume and cut some extraneous stuff off the beginning and the end - but we think it’s more interesting and authentic to hear the real deal, complete with fumbling for words, off-topic banter, and all the rest of it. Anyone can splice together a boring Q&A; we like conversations that reflect the real live people behind the business-card descriptions of who they are!

Anyway, have a listen. It’s a little over 13 minutes long, complete with (in addition to the actual interview) advice on how all you single fellas out there can get yourselves a girlfriend, and a self-aggrandizing vignette from me at the end. And be sure to grab the Mostly ITP RSS feed and stay tuned, because next week we’ll be recording the book signing at Manuel’s with Kos and Jerome!

The other night, the GDBF and I were interviewed on the Cup o’ Joe radio show - supposedly the first in a series of shows featuring Georgia bloggers. You can listen to it here - but not until I give you a quick disclaimer.

• I’ve realized that when I’m put on the spot, I tend to go through some kind of intellectual regression and speak only in clichés. In the case of this show, my drinking-game-worthy use of words and phrases such as “society,” “the media,” “sex-negative,” “predefined standard,” and so on kind of make me want to die. Seriously, folks, I’m a lot smarter than I sound - I just did a really poor job of conveying the smart thoughts in my head to the spoken medium.
• Apparently I am a “fairly attractive woman.” Fairly? Ha!

Alright. You can listen to it now. Maybe I should stick to writing!

It’s the next-best-thing to blogswapping - bloggers interviewing bloggers! We get to indulge our self-absorption and learn about each other at the same time. Everyone wins!

I interviewed Alyssa a.k.a. Drama Wench, and Thomas of Grabbingsand interviewed me. So, without further ado:

I started blogging in April of 2003. I started (I’m ashamed to say) with a diaryland account. I still have it, though I haven’t updated it in forever. I started because of my community theater group in Athens. We had started a fake sorority called Moo Moo Pie, and a ton of the girls in in had Diaryland accounts. So I started one and I really loved writing in it and keeping up with my friends and having my out of town friends and family be able to keep up with me. And it all went downhill from there. :D

2. Do you write mainly for yourself or for others?

I think I write mostly for myself - it’s a great way of expressing myself, putting things out there that I don’t have to filter. I can say whatever I want, however I want it, ’cause it’s my space. However, I think I’m always aware that I am writing for an audience. Kind of like in life - I think it’s because I’m an actor, I always keep that in the back of my mind.

3. Do you see any major differences between LiveJournal and other blogs?

Yes, definitely. Livejournal is much more about community - it’s about meeting people through your friends list, joining groups through the service. It encourages groups. I like it better for my usage because of the commenting structure - it encourages conversations through the threading of the comments on a post. So I can respond directly to you if you leave me a comment and we can have a whole conversation that is easy to follow. It’s also pretty easy to personalize, to make the page look how you want it.

I do like personal blogs, because you can have your own URL, and it’s truly your own. But I am very attached to my LJ. I lurve it. :D

4. What are your favorite kinds of blogs to read?

I like ones that are more personal - I like getting into people’s minds and heads, what’s going on in their lives. The best are the ones that are able to make everyday events really funny and extraordinary. One of my friends has this ability - she can make a trip to the DMV the funniest thing you’ll ever read.

5. Do you think blogs serve to let people get to know someone without meeting them in real life, or do you think they just serve as a façade preventing people from getting to know them because bloggers can choose what kind of image to project on their blogs. (That was terribly worded, I admit, but hopefully you get my point.) :)

I think it really depends on the person, but that your true personality can come through, even when you don’t intend it. I know that I do consider the kind of image I’m projecting at times, but overall, I think my blog is a good example of me. It just depends on what kind of person you are - are you using your blog as a place to vent, to put your thoughts out there, or are you doing it to be the person you can’t be in real life?

I have gotten to meet a lot of the people I blog with and I am always nervous to see if they are going to match with how they are online. And I’ve had great luck of meeting lots of folks who really are what they put out there.

6. Are you ever afraid of the dooce factor?

Oh absolutely. One of my close friends on LJ got fired because of his blog, so that’s always in the back of my mind. I’m very very careful to lock the entries that I discuss work in, and I try to never talk about specifics, just in case. That’s one of the things I like about LJ - you can lock entries in myriad ways, to protect yourself.

7. What’s the best vacation you’ve ever been on?

Oooo, good one. Probably my eighteenth birthday. My favorite aunt and uncle flew me up to New Jersey to stay with them and my 3 cousins for a week. We had a huge family barbeque my first day there - about 30 crazy Italians running around the house :D We went to the shore for a couple of days (the Jersey shore is my favorite beach) and went on a drive through upstate New York, including going to Sleepy Hollow and walking through the real cemetary from the story. But the highlight was my aunt taking me into New York City for an entire day and taking me to my first show on Broadway. We saw the original Broadway cast of “Jekyll and Hyde” (still one of my favorite shows) and I swear, my life has never been the same. :D

8. (This is cheesy but…) Do you believe in “true love”?

That’s a hard one. In my heart of hearts, I am a hopeless romantic. I love romantic comedies (I own way too many of them) and I’m a sucker for those stories. I always imagine that someday I’m going to meet someone and we are going to fall in love just like in the movies. But my cynical heart has seen too many people fall out of love, seen too many divorces, and I can get really disgusted with lovey-dovey people. So I guess I would have to say that deep down, I do believe in true love, but that my brain really hates me for admitting that ;D

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? :)

My deepest, darkest, most desperate desire would to be a professional actress. I love the theater and am never more happy than when I am on stage. But alas, my chicken shit self and very disapproving parents put a stop to that, so my true ultimate goal is to be a children’s book editor. I love to read (as anyone who has seen my bedroom can attest) and I really do believe that literature helps shape the person you will become and how you see the world. I want to be the person who brings those amazing books that you remember your entire life to kids. Cheesy, but true.

10. So… WTF?

Duuuuuude.