Thanks for joining me for another edition of Sunday Speed Dates. This week I have Charish Halliburton joining me.
Charish Halliburton is a university professor and published poet (Don’t Smoke Around the Rabbit- available on Amazon.com), currently living in Toledo, OH. When she’s not prepping for English 101, she is writing articles about race and gender issues intersecting with Popular Culture. To find out more, visit her website, The Motley News.
Welcome Charish! First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Boiler-plate things: I’m 32, married, and I live in Toledo, OH. I currently teach Composition at Lourdes University. I try to give students a better understanding of rhetoric and language through a popular culture lens. They seem to like it. When I’m not teaching, I’m writing for my blog, The Motley News, and making YouTube videos about feminism and race in popular culture.
It sounds like you’re keeping yourself busy! I love the fact that you’re using pop-culture in your classroom. It makes such a big difference in kids learning and understanding.
Tell us a little about your latest project.
My latest project was actually a novel that I had been working on for the past three years. However, at the start of this year, I decided to quit it. I should have felt more disappointed with myself, but I feel quite liberated! While it does bum me out to let that work go, it does give me the freedom to get back to my blog (which I was skipping out on). I’ve returned to The Motley News full-time and I’m looking to expand.
Good for you. I know it’s difficult abandoning a project, but sometimes it’s for the best. But like you said, now you have the freedom and time to do what you enjoy and expand on.
Are you and only child or do you have siblings? Tell us about them.
Two sister and four brothers (blended family situation). Me and my sisters are generally moody broody characters; sometimes quiet and pensive (we got that from our mother). My brothers are gregarious and charming (they got that from our father). Although we all have different tastes, we’re all intense readers. I believe I’m the only one who inherited the full-time writer genes (I got that from my grandfather).
That’s an interesting mix of personalities, for sure.
If you could have any job in the world (other than writer), what would it be? Why?
Ooh, I’m pretty certain I would have ended up as an anthropologist or sociologist. I enjoy the “field work” of getting to know new and different people. If I’m at a party with a lot of folks I don’t know, I make a point to get to know at least five new people. Next time you’re a party, ask someone what they do for a living. Next, tell them: “Ooh, that sounds challenging!” Then ask them a follow up question. People like talking about their jobs whether they’re shitty jobs or dream jobs. I think we want to know that someone cares about our labor. Now combine my level of nosy behavior with a curiosity for language, culture, and history. . . voila! I could have been a Margaret Meade.
On an academic level, I understand what you’re saying (I studied anthropology in school), but somehow the introvert in me wins every time. But I will try that and see what happens. If nothing else, it’ll be a good ice-breaker when travelling!
What type of book is your guilty pleasure in reading?
I would say historical romance, but I don’t think it should be guilty. I get to learn about Victorian England’s stiff society and I get sexy characters— what’s wrong with that? Romance as a genre has always been known as guilty pleasure, but I revel in the fact that women have been writing for women using women characters. It’s a beautiful community that should empower women, not makes us feel less than. Sigh, that’s the end of my literary soapbox rant.
Yes! Thank you! As a writer of historical romance, I heartily concur. The only guilty part about it is how much time I spend reading. Like, really, I should be writing, but instead I’m reading…
Desk: messy or organized?
I hate to say it, but terribly messy. It’s a childhood pack-rat thing that I never got over. However, the important notes that I need are tacked to a “vision board” in my study. So, I’m not in risk of losing anything important…yet.
Well, I’ve heard that a messy desk is the sign of a brilliant mind…Just sayin’…
Do you have a writing routine, or superstitions that you have to follow to get started in your writing? How about when you write?
I found that I can’t tell too many people that I’m starting a new project. I tend to talk it up too much and then I lose the verve to actually start the damn thing. So I keep it on the down-low until I’ve gotten my groove. When I’m sufficiently in my groove, I keep telling myself that I’m going to be an early morning writer. That’s never happened; I’m apparently a night-time writer. At the end of a good session of writing, a tumbler of whiskey is always nice.
I hear you on the early morning writing. I just can’t get my brain to focus at any time before noon. Even then it’s iffy…
How did you come up with Dearest Babs? I have never laughed so hard as I did when reading those posts!
Oh lord, haha! Anne M. is based on a real lady; a friend of my husband’s family. She was the kind of woman who referred to her own husband as “Our dear friend, George.” This waspish New England “Anne” really did come out with Barbara Bush. I’m was fascinated by this woman, so I kinda went to the extremes when I described her. I mean, she’s clumsy and privileged as hell, but she loves her friend “Babs.” And she deeesperately wants her friend to leave George…
I completely fell in love with Anne M. and her over the top ways. I hope to see more “Dearest Babs” in the future. :)
What is the most important thing you have learned while writing for the Motley News?
I’m still learning as I go. It’s been through several transitions as it is! When my friend and I started, it was called le salon de naturel and we discussed African American Hair. Since then, we’ve branched out. I’m writing about feminism, politics, pop culture, lots of books. I guess I learned how to be more gutsy than usual. I wanted to be a journalist, so I pretended to be one until it felt right. I started seeking out authors that I admired and asked them if they wanted to talk. I didn’t do that when I was younger. I wrote candidly about issues that I cared about, without worrying about my audience. When I was younger, I was a panderer. Not anymore. Maybe post-30 is when women stop sweating the small stuff?
I think you’re right about that. I stopped caring what others thought right around the time I turned 30. It’s very liberating. Almost like fully realizing my potential as a person and knowing I am qualified just as I am.
How have your travels and teaching influenced your writing?
When I was a kid, I never thought I would see the countries I’ve seen. I didn’t think I would live in Bangkok, Thailand or see Finland and Estonia. I think it feeds that hidden anthropologist in me. I wrote extensively about my time in Thailand; I had a lot of time on my hands. Traveling abroad shows you the world, yeah, but it also shows you what you’re made of. You have to write about that. If you don’t, it seems like a waste.
True. I went on my first solo international trip last year and I’m still trying to process the experience. It was so wonderful to be somewhere new. And all that history! Makes the US look like a little baby nation. :)
What famous person would you never want to meet?
Never? That’s a hard one! I feel like I’d be super nervous if Vladimir Putin at a party. Like, he might be the one guy I skip interviewing when I do my rounds. He’s got dead eyes.
You are so right about the eyes. It totally creeps me out when I watch the news. <shudder>
If you were a superhero…what would your name be? What would your super power be? What costume would you wear?
“The Wild Hare”. Super speed, super hearing, and super stealth. Um. . . I gotta make this look less Playboy Bunny and more fearsome. No puffy tail?
Ha! Somehow I picture a Michelle Pfeiffer’s Cat Woman long ears and a puffy white tail…
Sitting alone in a big field, looking at stars, what do you think/feel?
“Is there something I forgot to do?” (I’m not good at being mindful)
LOL. That sounds like something I would say/think. Or more likely…did I turn off the stove?
What advice would you give to your younger self?
I’d tell her that in the future, your creative work is your own. You won’t have to answer anyone but yourself. Younger me would really get a kick out of that.
So true. So many young writers haven’t learned that yet, but when they do, that’s when their writing really takes off.
What other projects do you have in the works?
Outside of teaching, I’m challenging myself to expand The Motley News’ YouTube channel. I’ve transitioned to talking solely about books and film. I’m very excited about narrowing my focus on the things that make me happy. Reading books about black female experiences makes me happy. Telling people about them makes me really happy.
Oh, that’s wonderful! It’s the best feeling when you get to share something you love and enjoy with others. I think that’s why we write.
Where can we find out more about you and what you write?
People can check out my essays at The Motley News and my author’s website.
You can pick up a copy of Charish’s book of poetry here.