Beth: I was born, and I lived in Fredericksburg my whole
life, I was pretty good in school but not the best.
M: Can you talk about,
what was Fredericksburg like, talk about the house you lived in
B; It was a normal, middle class neighborhood, and there was
a bunch of kids in the same age range as me, and there was a pool in front of
the neighborhood, a playground
M: What was the longest lasting friendship that you had?
B: My friend Brittney, we don’t really talk to much anymore,
she lived across the street from me for 15 years maybe, and then she moved away
because her parents got divorced, but we’re still friends
M: On the facebooks?
B; Yeah
M: Was there ever any,
did you ever get in trouble, did you ever have a little rascals moment?
B: Not really, there was a creek behind her house, and her
mom that would get really mad at us because she thought that we were going to
drown. And one time we thought, yeah, it’s rained a lot so we should definitely
go swimming right now, wearing lifejackets, and then her mom was like, “No!
don’t do that, you’re not allowed.” And then there were just some petty fights
between the different groups of friends in the neighborhoods.
M: What was your
school like?
B: I guess pretty average. It was a lot of white people. And
I guess Fredericksburg is pretty ‘red-necky.’
M: Did you feel like
you fit in there.
B: Not really. No, I was pretty quiet my whole life. I mostly hung out with people that were in
the same art classes as me.
M: What was your first
introduction to creative expression? Was art always in your life?
B: I was into art as long as I can remember. From grade
school on. And it was always one of my favorite classes to take.
M: Is there one artist
that you most connect with? That really inspires your work?
B: I guess my favorite artist would be Catherin Opie
She took pictures of Queer people. And they’re against
fabric backdrops.
She took the pictures in the studio, the backdrop is not a
piece of paper, some fancy looking fabric, to give it some art historical type
of…
I guess she makes people question gender in her work.
M: Can you explain why
that is important in your work? What connection you make to it?
B: Its awesome to see other queer artists taking pictures of
other queer people and being really successful with it. And making people
question gender norms. And her work is really popular which I think is really
cool.
M: So it normalizes
it?
B: It brings it into more people’s thoughts.
M: When was the first
time that you…when did you come out?
B: I’ve always been shy, so I never really had a big coming
out moment. I remember, this is really
silly, but I put it on my myspace at the time, so then I was like, everyone
will know or whatever, so yeah, I never really told anyone, I just assumed they
would figure it out.
M: Did anyone say
anything?
B: My mom actually, she was stalking my mysapce and she was
really mad that I didn’t tell her about it. And she was crying because I didn’t
tell her. And I was like, mom its kinda awkward I don’t know how to tell people
that, its kinda funny, wow.
M: So it wasn’t the
stereotypical disapproving mother. It was more like she wanted to be in the
loop.
Yeah.
M: Did it effect
anything in your family?
B: I don’t think anything really changed. It wasn’t really
dramatic or anything. It was just like, ok cool.
There’s certain people I waited to tell till I was dating
someone.
M: Were you dating
someone at the time? Or , I’ve been interested in this, or this is how I feel,
or this is the right time to make it public? Were you beginning to date someone
or was it a feeling?
B: I wasn’t dating anyone, it was just a feeling, and I know
it is guess this is kinda stereotypical, but I started watching the L Word. Oh
yeah cool, I think I’m queer.
M: So how did your
classmates react
I don’t know if a lot of them knew? I remember I told this
one girl. And at the time I felt really anxious about telling her. But she was
also gay so I guess that’s why I felt comfortable telling her. I don’t know, I
guess I never really told a ton of people about it, so I don’t know how they
reacted.
(cats fighting…aka…catattack!)
M: If you could make a
monument to one moment in your life
B: That’s a very serious question.
One moment that I thought was an awesome moment, when I
first started dating Jessica, and it was, I think it was valentines day maybe,
and she hid me a bunch of clues and sent me on a scavenger hunt and that was so
adorable and memorable. It was pretty adorable.
M: How long have you
been dating?
B: We just took a break, but before that it was 3 years and
8 months.
M: Was that your first
partnership?
B: My first real one. We get a long, it’s just kinda awkward now.
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