25 Things About Me

The usual story: tagged to within an inch of my life, both here and on Facebook.

1. When I was 5, I read 110 books in two weeks.
   
2. In college, I received a prize for "good moral character."
   
3. I had a job writing legal warning letters and eviction notices for trailer park residents,
   
4. Today, my usable singing voice has a compass of eight good notes.
   
5. I have mastered the art of writing book reviews with knowledge of just the author and title.
   
6. I spent three months in East Germany without noticing how awful the Communist state was.
   
7. My memory has gone from eidetic to forgetting-whether-I've-taken-my-meds quality.
   
8. At 13, I fell in love with a beautiful, Rilke-loving ballerina.
   
9. I helped to found a Yale singing group.
   
10. When I was a child, my favorite poet was Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
    
11. I was mentioned on the NCSA "What's New" list. (Points to anyone who remembers what that was.)
    
12. I had four brilliant, eccentric uncles who helped shape my worldview. (Two are still alive.)
    
13. I had my curiosity and idealism beaten out of me in the working world.
    
14. I was once an aggressive and determined but incompetent wrestler.
    
15. I was beaten up by three African American youths in the 14th Street subway station when I was on my way to see "Do The Right Thing."
    
16. This week, I've been blown away, five nights out of five, by classical pieces on the radio.
    
17. I documented a security system to be used at the World Trade Center that was scheduled to be deployed the week of 9/11.
    
18. I own 1,973 books.
    
19. I am optimistic enough to have just signed a 18-month lease even in the "current economic climate."
    
20. I am determined not to live in the past.
    
21. My favorite animals are the guanaco, the tamandua, the capybara, and the striped skunk.
    
22. Kashrus is for me a thing of the past, but I still won't eat seafood.
    
23. In my imaginary economy, the currency is backed by lint.
    
24. I was on the cover of "American Bookseller."
    
25. After so many years, I am a pretty darn good editor. I need more work, so feel free to tell others - http://www.jkcohen.com/