My first introduction to Amanda Palmer came through a serendipitous encounter with her book on my local library shelf. I was instantly captivated. This former Dresden Dolls front woman has been able to create a living for herself, raising $1.2 million off of Kickstarter and make houses of strangers a home, while paying in hugs, conversations, and flowers, to provide her music free to all. From reading her book to watching her TED talk to spending an embarrassingly long amount of time Internet stalking her, I have found that her raw authenticity reverberates from everything she does. So grab your favorite cup of tea, sit back and enjoy this Curiosity Conversation with a crowdfunding pioneer, mother, singer and songwriter, rockstar, and activist, or as I like to call her Amanda Palmer.
What is the most beautiful thing you've noticed this week?
On a walk yesterday: my baby's hand reaching to grab some furry, caterpillar-like blossoms off a tiny tree we passed on a small dirt road. I stopped and held him as, one by one, he carefully rounded his hand and sloughed all the furry blossoms that were within his reach.
What does it mean to be interesting?
Funnily enough, I think the most interesting people are the most INTERESTED. Interested in the world, interested in their own inner workings, interested in others.
What is the most pressing question that you've had today?
Ha! My assistant emailing to ask if I'd decided whether or not to go to Seattle to campaign for Bernie. The flights are getting pricey and I haven't committed yet.
What do you believe is the largest influencer of individual suffering in the world?
Capitalism, probably.
Individual happiness?
Human compassion.
What does a sustainable life look like to you?
Oh, it's so very different for everybody. I would go wide with this answer and say that a sustainable life for any human is a life that contains buckets of self-forgiveness, because we can sustain at so many different levels: from killing everything around us to trying not to step on the grass for fear of crushing an ant. We know the balanced is impossible, we strive anyway, we forgive ourselves and we walk a tightrope daily.
What is your favorite thing about the human face and why?
Eyes, eyes, eyes. The emotional bedrock of human connection.
What was the last moment you felt completely at peace?
In bed this morning, feeding the little one, and listening to his breath slow as he fell asleep on my chest. Perfection. You get a lot of these moments as a nursing mother, it's really sublime.
If you had a megaphone, what one story would you tell to the world?
I feel like I already did that, with my TED megaphone. I'd probably tell a similar story.
What has been the most pivotal moment in your life so far?
Besides being born? That was pretty pivotal. Honestly: even above and beyond meeting Neil and having a child, I'd say it was meeting Brian Viglione, the drummer for The Dresden Dolls. My life path may never have climbed a hill if he hadn't walked into my life. I'm ever grateful to him for that.
What one piece of advice would you go back and give yourself the day you were born?
Don't believe them, they're just in pain and scared.
What is the very first thing you do in the mornings?
Good day = meditate. Bad day = check phone.
What one word describes you?
Yes.
What one word describes this world?
Yes.
Describe your work process.
I have a multitude of projects, and a lot of them lately involve being on the phone and sitting behind a mac typing out ideas and directions for collaborators. I spend a lot more time behind the computer keyboard than the piano keyboard. But I've come to accept and not resent that; it's a part of the working process if I want to maintain control over my creative output.
Describe your relationship with technology.
Fraught. I've used it to incredible ends to connect with people and make art, but I'm starting to feel the burnt-out edges of humanity, and I'm starting to wonder how crazy we really all are for being human beings staring into screens for at the amount of time that we do. The baby is driving this home. It feels instinctively wrong to be on machines when he's looking at you. His whole being is like: what the fuck are you doing? Are you crazy? You're just sitting there doing nothing! Be a human and walk around in the world, that's what I expect!
What, when, why, and where was the last book you read?
This morning... in bed while feeding mister baby, I read a few pages of Franz Nicolay's not-yet-out "The Humorless Women of Border Control", because I promised him I'd give him a blurb. Last night I fell asleep to "The Last Child in the Woods."
What is the most important thought you've ever had?
Ooh. Hard to narrow down. I had a great, important realization in a yoga class once in my mid-twenties. I'd shown up hungover, and it was a hot class, and I was not only really physically suffering but I was screaming at myself inside my own head. Really awful, horrific, masochistic, guilty shit: "WHY DID I DO THIS? WHO THE FUCK AM I? WHY AM I SO IRRESPONSIBLE! I AM NEVER DRINKING AGAIN! I SUCK! I AM SUCH AN IMMATURE IDIOT! etc etc etc." And, then, all of a sudden, I had this thought that went: "Wait. Amanda, why are you talking to yourself like that? It's not helping. You're feeling sick. Just lie down, take it easy, and be nice to yourself for fuck's sake." It was a truly enlightening experience that's stayed with me forever.
What does extraordinary mean in this world?
I would define it this way: willing to be real.
Who would you be most interested in seeing answer these Curiosity Conversations questions next?
I'd nominate Ben Hopkins from PWR BTTM, with the caveat that he's not allowed to be sarcastic.