70-MINUTE INTERVIEW WITH SAM PINK ON GMAIL CHAT 
(view edited version at VICE)
 
Sam Pink is the author, among other books, of two novels, PERSON (2010) and THE NO HELLOS DIET (2011); a story-collection, HURT OTHERS (2010); a collection of aphorism-like things, NO ONE CAN DO ANYTHING WORSE TO YOU THAN YOU CAN (2012). I recommend all these books. PERSON's back-cover description: "You see him at the liquor store. You see him at the bus stop, trying to look at you without being seen. Who is he? He is a person." I remember reading PERSON without stopping but while moving around. I started on the train, I think, and kept reading while walking ten blocks from Union Square to Think Coffee, where I sat and finished the book before going to the library. If forced to describe PERSON in five words I would say "emotional, funny, interesting, stimulating, exciting." You can read an excerpt here. You can read stories from HURT OTHERS here and here. The following is a Gmail chat interview. It was edited by deleting ~40% of it.
 
PROLOGUE
me: Hey.
 sam: hey man
 me: Sam?
  hey
1:02 PM sam: i'm finna go invizz
  it has been done
1:04 PM hey
 me: hey
  

"BOTTOM LINE"
sam: can there be a "bottom line" segment
 me: bottom line, yeah that sounds good
1:06 PM when you want to do that just tell me
  and i'll go right into it
PART 1: AGE/LOCATION  
how old were you when you wrote PERSON?
 sam: i think, 26 to 27
  maybe a little 25
1:07 PM me: has your mom read it?
 sam: i'm not sure
 me: do you have siblings?
 sam: yes two brothers
 me: where are you right now?
 sam: i'm in a livingroom in humboldt park, sitting on the wooden floor with my legs crossed
1:08 PM me: you're in a park, or is 'humboldt park' like a cafe or something?
 sam: humboldt park is a neighborhood
1:09 PM bottom line: humboldt park: a neighborhood, not cafe
  
BOTTOM LINE: "HUMBOLDT PARK: A NEIGHBORHOOD, NOT CAFE"
me: i see what you mean by 'bottom line' now
 sam: bottom line: he gets it
BOTTOM LINE: "HE GETS IT"
 me: when that happens, you just go ahead and type 'bottom line': etc. i'll format it later
  sam: i hear it spoken in my head when i write it
1:10 PM me: nice
  have you done that in some other interview, the 'bottom line' thing?
 sam: not sure
  it feels like i have
 me: i think you did it in the video thing, the vlog, with jordan and noah and them, right?
 sam: yeah jordan likes the segments too

PART 2: MDAsam: we took some mda you sent jordan
  i remember being like "i'm really fucked up"
  then having intense hallucinations with my eyes closed
 me: you looked like a normal functioning human
  like a mediocre guest on oprah

PART 3: HOSTESS FRUIT PIE (1/2)
 me: what sentence do you think of first when you read 'what sentence is most memorable of what you've written to you'?
 sam: just imagined myself forcing a "hostess fruit pie" into my forehead
  
me: while reading that i kept wanting it to say 'into your mouth'
 sam: not sure, i read one while working on something the other day and i thought that
1:23 PM me: can you try to remember it
  or any part of it?
1:26 PM sam: i can't remember the exact sentence i thought that about, but i remember a lesser one about someone headbutting a cat and the sound it makes when the foreheads hit
  and the person saying "hyuhh" as they did it
 me: nice. so someone headbutts a cat in the cat's head?
1:27 PM sam: forehead to forehead
  BOTTOM LINE
 me: what's the context?
  what's the bottom line? "forehead to forehead"?
 sam: yes i think so
BOTTOM LINE: "FOREHEAD TO FOREHEAD"
  not sure about the context
  i can't handle plot and context uunless it's really simple
1:28 PM me: what does pushing 'hostess fruit pies' into your forehead remind you of?
1:29 PM sam: i think it reminds me that i don't think effectively

PART 4: A CONDEFERACY OF DUNCES
1:30 PM me: what's a book you 'gave up on' quickest in recent memory
  sam: i read one or two sentences from "a confederacy of dunces" and stopped
 me: what thoughts occurred to you during those one or two sentences, if any, that you can remember
1:31 PM sam: bottom line: good question
BOTTOM LINE: "GOOD QUESTION"
  i think i just thought "no"
  like "don't read anymore"
  it didn't feel critical
 me: do you remember what was on the cover?
 sam: i remember liking the cover
 me: do you remember what was on it?
 sam: i think it was a painting of one of the characters
  
me: an obese man?
1:32 PM sam: yes
  YES!
 me: nice
  what's another book you stopped reading recently?
  
PART 5: SIDDHARTHA
 sam: i stopped reading siddhartha after one page
1:33 PM me: when was this?
 sam: but i think my brain is just like, ruined
  it feels soggy and shitty
  that was recently
 me: but in emails you seem alert and like your brain has things to say
1:34 PM do you only write emails when, like, after you've had coffee or something?
 sam: yeah it's nice to talk to some people sometimes
  no i dont think so
  i just get excited about being able to say some things to people
  because i don't talk to people in public a lot
PART 6: CRACK
 me: tell us about smoking crack, i think you did that with homeless people once, am i right
1:35 PM sam: yeah i've smoked crack, i think, four to six times maybe
  maybe three to five
  it didn't seem enjoyable
 me: any of those times with, like, people your age?
 sam: most of them were alone
PART 7: MOLLY
 me: didn't someone snort molly off your ass at AWP, in 2012?
1:36 PM sam: yeah i think three people did
  someone broke a beer bottle in the shower while i was standing barefoot in it, ass out
  it was stressful
 me: then they just told you to stand still, so they could snort molly off it?
  or did they tell you to go into the shower specifically for that?
1:37 PM sam: can't remember that
  i rememeber going into the bathroom
  and gene morgan texted his wife to ask if it was okay
 me: feel like it would be really difficult, unless you were lying stomachdown
 sam: yeah that was a problem
  i kind of bent at the waist
  put it on my "upper cheek"
 me: i can't picture it at all, unless it was a gigantic shower
1:38 PM was your ass sweaty at all, do you think?
 sam: no but i was just going to say, i never wear underwear so i think i had fuzz in it
  prettu syre about the fuzz
 me: fuzz, like cotton from the pants?
 sam: yeah like
1:39 PM my ass is really round
  like big and round
  so i feel like fuzz just loves gettin in there!
  me: you think of it as getting "in" your ass?
 sam: no pardon me
  like
  just in the crevice between each half of the ass
 me: they should've just anally given you some molly, since they were already doing that
  have you ever used drugs rectally?
PART 8: ANAL ECSTASY
 sam: yeah i tried to put a brown pill of ecstacy
  up my ass
  but it just burned and i shit it out and didn't feel anything
 me: i watched a youtube conspiracy video that said marilyn monroe was given an enema of barbituates, which was what killed her
1:41 PM sam: that sounds horrible but also like, grand
  sounds grand
 me: what notable thoughts have you had the past 30 minutes?

PART 9: HOSTESS FRUIT PIE (2/2)
1:43 PM sam: the hostess fruit pie into the forehead keeps recurring in my head
 me: me too
  it seems good
  any other notable thoughts?
 sam: no, thank you for your time
 me: we're not done yet
 sam: bottom line: sorry
BOTTOM LINE: "SORRY"me: i asked people on facebook to ask questions
1:44 PM i'm going to paste those, you can answer if you want
 
PART 10: QUESTIONS FROM FACEBOOK
 me: "if you were to commit suicide how would you do it, if you were to write a suicide note what would it say" - Spencer Madsen
 sam: try to behead myself somehow
  no note
 me: "if a raging grizzly was charging towards you, what weapon would you use to defend yourself and why" - Katherine Claire DeMoss
 sam: my hands and my anger
 me: "what is the highest level of math you feel you have 'mastered' to any degree" - Andrew Colville
1:46 PM sam: i don't know a lot of math
 me: "favourite dinosaur and why?" - Rigby Taht
 sam: if there's one that eats other dinosaur's shit, then that one
 me: "what's your favorite food to eat at the olive garden and why" - Johnny Vulpine
 sam: i've never been to the olive garden
PART 11: RED LOBSTER
1:47 PM me: have you been to red lobster?
 sam: yes one time
  maybe i was like six
 me: what happened?
 sam: don't remember
  just remember feeling the normal amount of discomfort being out at a restaurant

QUESTIONS FROM FACEBOOK (CONTINUED)
  "Everything about your style is so different - from the poetic verse type prose, to the whacky titles to the often blunt, shocking and sometimes simple, childish words used throughout. What exactly are you trying to accomplish, and what benefits have you found for your style over other more traditional styles and forms?" - Simon A. Smith
 sam: i honestly feel like i don't know what i'm doing when i do it

INTERLUDE: INTERVIEW ASSESSMENT
  we're going to assess this interview now
2:03 PM sam: you go first
 me: what were you thinking going into this interview?
 sam: i was thinking it will be nice
  and it was!
  i look forward to reading it again
  i want someone to call me a "fag" in the comments section
 me: i'm 100% certain they will
2:04 PM sam: BRING IT ON!
 me: was going to type 99.9% but it didn't feel accurate
 sam: i just thought "you silly fuckers, brig it"
 me: i think you can only comment if you have facebook, are you going to get facebook to comment?
 sam: no
  
PART 12: HEROIN
 me: we should end this with something about heroin, for the commenters, who'd you snort heroin with?
2:08 PM sam: by myself a few times, with a friend who later died from it a few more times
  i really like it
 me: what do you do after the few times you do it alone?
2:09 PM sam: i played drums the first time
  sometimes would just go for a walk
  and went to parties a few times
  and would just sit outside on the lawn i think
  all in good fun
EPILOGUE
 me: that's a good ending, we'll end now
  good job
 sam: ok thank you
 me: ill email you to keep you updated
2:10 PM sam: good
  thank you
 me: have a nice day
 sam: you too
2:11 PM me: thank you


^

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