JC: I want to get a little political here. Do you have any current events you'd like to discuss or bring to the table - things you're concerned about… it could be local or national or international…
ST: For school this semester, I'm studying polllution, and military pollution: pollution specifically caused by the U.S. military and by big U.S. corporations. And that's partially because of the fact that my disability was caused by military pollution. There was a place in the town where I was born that made and cleaned and did all the up-keep of airplanes and different things that are used in warfare; and they for decades and decades have been just burying those chemicals in the ground illegally, and it got in the groundwater and tens of thousands of people in the south side of Tucson were infected. And lots of people became disabled or were born disabled or got cancer and died. So what I've found out through my research (and I think this is common knowledge) is that the U.S. military is a huge polluter - in fact, according to some things I've read, the no. 1 polluter in the world.
JC: Of all kinds of environmental…
ST: Yeah, all different angles… the air, the water. I read something that was about space, how outer space is being polluted by the U.S. military.
JC: How's that?
ST: Just all the space junk that's floating around with all sorts of different horrible chemicals and things.
JC: Oh goodness.
ST: The military too… the thing about the military is that all stages of it are dangerous. The making of the thing, the cleaning, the testing of bombs. And then, war of course is incredibly damaging to nature and to people, and its purposefully so. And it just seems all that much more hypocritical considering that right now the rhetoric of the country is that we're making our military stronger to protect us, when in actuality it's causing so much harm to millions of millions of Americans and other people.
JC: To hypocritical proportions…
ST: To hypocritical proportions, yes, it's crazy.
JC: And before, we discussed the possibility… did you know whether it was some kind of group in Arizona where you were born that gets together and discuss what happened and you said something… that you believe they are working on making the situation better?
ST: Yeah. It's kind of gross because Hughes Air Force, which is the main place, has now become Raytheon. Raytheon is getting paid tons of money to clean up its mess. So now what they're doing is something very prominent called "green-washing": where a company will donate to Earth Day or whatever to overshadow the fact that they are horrible, horrible polluters. They have this whole part of their building which is about how Raytheon is good for the environment. I'm not sure whether this group that meets… who organizes i; I've never been part of it.
JC: So you're not clear on what their angle is...
JC: You were home-schooled as a child.. and you were telling me that you were in Montessori school for…
ST: 6th grade, I think.
JC: … middle-school years?
ST: Just for half a year.
JC: In Montessori for only half a year... and you did kindergarten in public schools, but other than that everything else was home-schooling.
ST: There was high school in public school: 8th grade, 9th grade, and 10th grade, but only for half the days.
JC: Oh, I see, the other half of the day you were…
ST: At home.
JC: But no home-schooling during that time at all.
ST: Well, I did this thing called Homebound, so that I didn't have to be in school all day. I'd have to do my work for the class at home, so it wasn't home-schooling but I did do it at home.
JC: Okay, I got you. I guess your parents are pretty…
ST: Eccentric?
JC: Instrumental in teaching you in home school, that's how it goes.
ST: Well, they did this thing called "un-schooling," where they didn't teach us. We had an environment with lots of books around and people who would answer questions, but they never told us to sit and read or go and study. The thing about un-schooling is a belief that if a kid is curious, then they'll learn. So we never had textbooks and our mom never sat us down with lessons.
JC: I agree that if you don't have any curiosity for a subject, you're not going to learn anything about it. Sunny, do you want to say something about food? What are some of your favorite foods?
ST: I really like food…
JC: Because we know you're a vegetarian…
ST: Yes, but I'm not a vegan unforunately. I'm trying to figure out how to be a vegan but the problem is that I really, really love ice cream, especially Ben and Jerry's. And I love Indian food. I love Thai of Athens [a restaurant in Athens with plenty of vegetarian options].
JC: Love it, Thai food's good.
ST: I love Thai food, I love vegetables, I love pears, and oranges, and bananas. And I love chocolate and I love cake and cookies, lots of cookies. I like a lot of food. Indian food, that's probably my favorite.
JC: You do eat dairy, because you couldn't eat your ice cream if you were.
ST: No, I couldn't. And I really like cheese too. I'm trying to figure out ways of cutting down, that is something I'd like eventually.
JC: What would be the reason why you'd want to do that? Is it ethical reasons, or health reasons, or a combination of the two.
ST: It's basically all just ethical reasons. I'm a vegetarian because I don't like hurting animals, and the whole process of getting milk and eggs hurts animals.
JC: Yeah, you dou don't want a product from the animals.
ST: But my big problem right now is that I can't cook. I'm trying to learn how to cook. My big secret right now - actually, it's not a secret because I tell everybody - but I'm slightly embarassed of it, is that I got a George Foreman grill.
JC: I have one of those.
ST: Really?
JC: Yes, they're great.
ST: Aren't they great?
JC: It makes cooking - grilling stuff - really simple.
ST: So I've been learning how to grill things. I boiled water for the very first time. I made spaghetti. I made David, my boyfriend, a birthday cake.
JC: You put the candles on and what not?
ST: I actually even didn't get to eat it with him. Because he had to spend dinner with his parents, and then I went out of town. But he ate it. But it was a Betty Crocker cake, so I have to say it wasn't my own.
JC: Well, that's probably about the best I could do. I'm not the best cook either.
ST: Using diary makes cooking, when you're a bad cook, a lot easier.
JC: It helps bind things.
ST: Yeah, and it helps to be healthier at this point just because I can't cook well. So what I'd like to do is learn how to cook more and figure out ways I can cook and still be healthy and be vegan.
JC: Maybe it would make you more aware of ingredients that you're putting into your food, rather than relying on restaurants. What's your favorite kind of cake?
ST: I really love carrot cake. My friend came over and gave me carrot cake today. I was so happy. Carrot cake, chocolate cake, vanilla cake, red velvet cake…
JC: But carrot cake's on the top? Do you like German chocolate cake?
ST: I love German chocolate a lot. I love that Vegan Death cake at the Grit [a vegetarian restaurant in Athens]. Yeah, I love cake.
JC: The girl loves cake. So you made some spaghetti today? Did you make a sauce?
ST: Yeah, just noodle sauce; I did make some fake meat to go with it.
JC: Any kind of spices you added to that?
ST: I didn't add spices but I have before. When I grill stuff, I like to use all sorts of different spices.
JC: What are you top five favorite spices?
ST: I love paprika. What are some spices in Indian food?
JC: Curry?
ST: Curry's probably up there. Rosemary. Cinnamon.
JC: Do you like cilantro?
ST: I do like cilantro a lot. What else? I like dill if it's in the right things.
JC: It's good in sauces.
ST: Basil is one of my favorites.
JC: Okay, want to talk about movies a minute? Getting into the more fun-loving part of the interview… Any movies that you want to see that you haven't seen yet, that have been recommended to you…?
ST: There are lots of movies that are recommended to me but I never remember. I'm not good at remembering directors and stuff like that. And when I go to the video store, I get incredibly overwhelmed and I'm really only good at picking out movies if I've already seen them.
JC: Are you a repeat watcher?
ST: I am.
JC: If you find a good one…
ST: I get really overwhelmed by movies too, kind of how we were talking about books.
JC: You feel like you should be doing something instead of watching a movie.
ST: Yeah. I get really antsy, but then I also feel too emotionally involved with someone else's emotions. If it's a really great, beautiful movie, then it's something… Movies are so powerful, because it can be the stupidest, dumbest movie and yet you still get sucked into the melodrama of it. And I don't like that. It makes me slightly uncomfortable. But sometimes I'm in a mood where I want to be in that…
JC: In that space?
ST: Yeah.
JC: What are some movies you do like? What's a visually beautiful movie you like? Sometimes I think things are good as eye candy: the plot is dumb, or you don't like one actor in it, but you might like the way it's visually put together.
ST: Probably lots of movies. My favorite visual movies are Emir Kusturica's movies, like Time of the Gypsies [Dom Za Vesanje, 1989] and Underground [1995]. They're so visually beautiful but also musically they're so beautiful. They're just beautiful, story-wise.
JC: Where is he from?
ST: I used to know, I don't remember anymore. I mean, they're all about gypsies…and then Harold and Maude is one of my favorites.
JC: Oh, I love that movie.
ST: And… what else? I've recently become completely infatuated with Jimmy Stewart.
JC: Oh god, love him, have you seen Harvey?
ST: Harvey is one of my new favorite movies. Jimmy Stewart's awesome. I really like old movies.
JC: Did you see Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and the filibuster scene….
ST: Yeah, that's a great movie. I had a Jimmy Stewart week, where I was discovering Jimmy Stewart. I rented that and Harvey, and I had never seen It's a Wonderful Life. There was one other one that was about a family, a really eccentric family, that was really awesome but I can't remember what it was called. So him and… I don't know, I like all sorts of movies.
JC: You like Cary Grant?
ST: I do, but I don't know too many movies.
JC: Oh, you should check Cary Grant out. A lot of them are really good. I just thought of a question. Sometimes my sister says about somebody she thinks is really cool… it's a famous person, depending on their age, she'll say that's my uncle, that's my grandfather. Thinking it would be cool to have her as a father. Would you think Jimmy Stewart… could he be your grandfather?
ST: Or my uncle. I would love that, if he were... from how he looks, from how I remember him, I think he would make a good uncle. He could be my uncle, I would love that. The woman from Harold and Maude is my grandmother. Harold is my brother.
JC: Bud Court?
ST: Yeah. Who was the old guy with the really big nose in Grumpy Old Men?
JC: Is it Walter Matthau?
ST: He reminds me of my grandfather - just his nose and how grumpy he was. Yeah, I like that question.
