There is a psychic gulf that exists between myself and my grandparents because they don't really speak English, and I don't speak Chinese, and that's my own personal shame because I did not learn, ever. I only saw my paternal grandma a few times in my life, and that's really crazy.
I think that people should never be ashamed of wanting to move on with their lives and move on from their partners. I have a lot of girlfriends who were married in their early 20s and are now divorced because they basically grew apart - they evolved into another person in their 30s.
We're taught to be ashamed of confusion, anger, fear and sadness, and to me they're of equal value to happiness, excitement and inspiration.
In the face of patriarchy, it is a brave act indeed for both men and women to embrace, rather than shame or attempt to eradicate, the feminine.
I just feel compelled to continue to be transparent. It just really levels the playing field and eradicates the shame that I have, or that one might have, about being human. So I'm going to just keep going.
My closest friend, who died not long ago, is buried near Marx's grave in Highgate cemetery, so I see the gaggle of admirers laying roses at the foot of his tombstone regularly. I have never been tempted to leave flowers there myself. Great theories, shame about the practice. Marx did many things. But inventing class was not one of them.
A lot of people are afraid of the idea of enslavement, and that's because it's tied to so much shame and guilt... That is the big elephant in the room, but a part of why we're afraid to attack that subject matter is because of the way we've been taught about it.
American culture is not about experiencing our shame, it's about denying it. It's been that way our whole history.
There are people that have that confidence, who march into VIP areas. I assume I won't get in. I don't say, 'Do you know who I am?', but sometimes I'm with someone who says it for you. Then, I pretend to be all, 'Oh, please don't shame me!'.
Shameless self-publicity works, of course: living your life as a soap opera.
