1) What do you think of vampires
like Don Henrie, who showcase their vampirism and like to dress
the part? Do you think they are more of a harm or a help to
those that are awakening?
Don Henrie isn't a vampire, he's
a douche bag. He doesn't "dress the part" he dresses like a
damned fool. Saying that a vampiric person should or has to look
like a Marylin Manson music video reject in order to be
"authentic" is as absurd as saying someone who's diabetic isn't
truly diabetic unless they dress like a pirate. Vampirism isn't
a clothing choice; it isn't a lifestyle, it's a medical
condition. Anyone who choses to be melodramatic and overly
theatrical about it is a serious hindrance to the condition
being accepted seriously.
2) In reading Sacred
Hunger by author Michelle Belanger, I find that she seems to
think that most claiming to be vampires, so long as they don't
make outrageous claims, are real vampires. I was wondering what
you thought of this because you stated in one of your interviews
that about 95% of those claiming vampirsm were fake.
I have never agreed with Belanger's stance
though I must admit, I've never taken the time to read her
books. I do not feel that vampirism is a title that you
decide to bestow upon yourself just for the hell of it. I don't
believe that it's a religion that you chose for yourself. Again,
such concepts belittle the medical nature of the condition and
the struggle for acceptance, understanding and resources
available to those who live with the condition on the day-to-day
basis. Vampirism doesn't lie in the ubber-goth night clubs and
other carefully staged scenes, it lies in the struggle to keep
one's job, or to pay one's bills - the normal challenges of
daily life. The real vampiric person is the one in the t-shirt
and jeans at the supermarket who's coming home after working all
day and who still has to cook dinner and walk the dog and clean
the house. There's nothing real or authentic about someone
applying a label and a trite fashion sense to themselves.
3)Many of the authors I have been reading
seem to think it's okay and even good thing to embrace what they
are in the form of dressing the part and even encourage it
because of the empowering part of it. What are your thoughts on
this?
I think by now my thoughts on the "scene" are
pretty self-evident. Flaunting some absurd, affected Hollywood,
dark, tragic, gothic lifestyle is just embracing a ridiculous
stereotype. True vampiric people have nothing to do with that
kind of nonsense. But of course, the only people that are put on
display to the public are those who do. And thus, the
continuation of the stereotype continues. Nobody would find
images of "Sambo" empowering to the African American community,
so why would images of "lifestylers" be any better to those who
are vampiric? You know, there's having fun and not taking
yourself too seriously and then there's going way over the edge
and living in a fantasy world. Too many people want the fantasy
and the fiction and it's a constant, uphill battle to counter
that in my small corner of the web.
