Sarah Galvin never ceases to amaze. The first time we met, circa 2008, she was dressed as a party drug. The last time we met, about a week ago, she was dressed in absolutely nothing at all.
Who is Sarah Galvin? You may know her as your weekly
Chow Bio-logist from The Stranger**, you may know her as a hilarious blogger of "abandoned snacks"on
Pedestretarian, or you may know as your ticket-taker/popcorn scooper at a local independent movie theater. You also may know her as a poet and a member of
APRIL, which stands for Authors, Publishers, Readers of Independent Literature, (who, incidentally, do a lot of their printing here at Cairo). Regardless of how you know her, Sarah Galvin is
the shit.
Our interview began as most interviews do, covering the typical ground of general education (future grad student at UW) and good familial advice ("My mom always said, 'People can go to hell.'"). We even got onto the subject of "spicy poprocks", but it wasn't until we started talking about our photo shoot (specifically the final look) that things really started heating up.
In order to spark your imagination without giving it all away, I'll leave you with Sarah's words before we shot her third look, "Wait! How is my hair?! If I'm going to be naked, my hair has to look PERFECT."
Scroll down to read our awesome interview and to see some serious pics.
**Attached is a link to her interview of Cairo's new neighbors at Thomas Street Deli!
Sarah's "before" outfit.
Awesome planet shirt + dance moves.
Exclusive Cairo silkscreen design and Iacoli and McCallister Necklace.
Sarah supports the arts.
I must say, as I adjusted her necklace, I felt a little bit like Jack Dawson.
The Interview:
You write the Chow Bio for The Stranger. Has anything you've tasted completely blown you away?
Szechuan Pepper. Its not a food, its a seasoning. If you put a bunch of it in your mouth and chew its kind of like a spicy savory poprock. Also, the carrot juice thing at Montana happened to me. It's called 20/20 Vision, I think. It's only 6 bucks and 1000 times better than any cocktail.
Where did you come up with concept for your blog, The Pedestretarian?
I've always been fascinated with discarded and abandoned things. Stories about abandoned things that I find will form by themselves in my head. I'm also really into writing about food. When I was writing an article on the Chow Bio, I thought about how funny it would be to write about food I found on the ground. Then I realized that it was a great blog idea.
According to The Stranger's website, you'll 'try anything once'. Is this true?
Just about. There have been occasions when I ate things I wouldn't normally eat for The Stranger. Being a vegetarian is an obstacle as a food critic. But you know, I ate a bunch of bacon last week. For work. I do what I have to do.
You also work at a popular independent movie theater… Do you ever draw inspiration from characters that might come in?
Oh, we definitely have some characters. My favorite is this lady that is about 6 feet tall, always wearing super short skirts and Ugg boots. She just goes to movies all day. Whenever she comes in, she'll buy her ticket and goes in the bathroom and opens a can. I always thought it was beer, but it might actually just be Fanta.
How would you describe your personal style in 3 words?
Psychedelic, Ghost, Dandy.
Who are your fashion influences?
Vivienne Westwood, Jacques DuTronc, Willy Wonka.
Where do you like to shop?
Mostly everything I wear is from the Goodwill bins. My shoes are made by Goodyear, so I can only assume that they are made from blimps!
Who do people say you look like?
It's about 50/50 between a young Roger Daltrey and Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate.
If you could invite any 3 people to dinner, who would you invite and where would you take them?
Screaming Lord Sutch, Joe Wenderoth, and John Waters. I would take them to the Water Wheel. It's a dive bar in Ballard that looks like the set of Barbarella.
Are there any books you won't read on principle?
I expected to like Harry Potter, but I only got through the first 50 pages. People wouldn't stop asking me if I had read those Dragon Tattoo books so much that I just didn't care to read them anymore.
What are you listening to right now?
Bounce! I am super into New Orleans Bounce music. Big Freedia and Messy Mya. It's the perfect thing to listen to while I write: it has the exact energy I do when writing. Oh, and the band Venom. Dance hiphop music and hair metal.
What is something you have accomplished lately that you are chuffed about?
I am getting published in the Pacific Poetry Project, which is pretty cool.
What do you hope to achieve with your writing?
Well, I guess the shortest answer is that sometimes when I write, I feel like I have a glimpse of something beautiful and full of energy. I would like to be able to give that to others too. I would like that to show through to other people when they read it. I would say my writing is pretty grotesque sometimes, but for me it's about the joy of being alive, which includes the grotesque parts, too. Kind of like Jean Genet, who takes the grotesque and makes it beautiful: to embrace all parts of life.
What's next?
Well, I am going to grad school at UW for Poetry. I'm going to keep writing for The Stranger. I guess I would like to become a professor, or write full time for The Stranger.
Wise words that you live by?
When I was about 12 years old my grandpa called me, said "Hello Sarah", and then just said, "Jump on stage with a blast from the orchestra." Then he hung up. I knew exactly what he meant.
Thanks again to Sarah for making my afternoon THAT much more interesting. You'll always be the coolest.
