Natalie Leonard

1.  Have you ever had a transcendent experience?  If so, what happened?

The most transcendent experience of my life was meeting my daughter, Gates.  Seeing her for the very first time surpassed all my expectations and the immediate and all consuming love I felt was and still is incomparable.

2.  If you had to pick one sense and lose all others, what would it be?

I love to eat and would therefore have to say that taste is the sense I would want to keep BUT if you lose your sense of smell it seems your ability to truly taste would be greatly reduced so I'm not entirely sure this is a fair question. :(

3.  What is your favorite attribute in a person?

I wish my answer were more imaginative but honestly... it is all about the honesty.  Lying is so easy and it seems that many people take the easy way out these days.

4.  Describe your happiest accident.

Missing the deadline to submit applications to most colleges.  I never had any intention of attending Sam Houston State but when I missed the chance to pursue other schools, they ended up being the easiest route to getting an education.  At Sam, I made life long friends and met my love (who, if you refer to question #1, was instrumental in my transcendent experience:) ).  I wouldn't trade that time at SHSU for anything in the world.  Some may say that it was good old fashioned procrastination rather than an accident that led me there but I will say that I am thankful that I accidentally procrastinated. :)

5.  If you had to choose one personal object to leave behind when you are gone, what would it be?

There isn't much that I have of any real value or importance but I think I would want my engagement and wedding rings to be left for Gates.  They are a symbol of the love that created her and it's endurance.  I would want her to always have a reminder of that.

Lauren Hunt

1.  Have you ever had a transcendent experience?  If so, what happened?

I once saw 30 seconds into the future for a period of 5 minutes. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life. I was about 12 and was sitting in the waiting room of my small-time family dentist looking out the window. In my mind I imagined a truck pulling into the parking lot and one of my former camp councilors getting out. I was in shocked when just a short time later that very thing happened. But it didn’t stop there. As the truck was parked and the camp councilor was exiting, in my mind I saw another truck pull next to the truck and the councilor get out of that truck too. Impossible, right? Well, imagine my shock when another truck pulled into the parking lot and the councilor got out of that truck too! (Actually, it turned out that the second councilor was the real one and the first was his twin that I didn’t know existed.) The experience was overwhelming and frightening, but it really has made me a much more open-minded person when it comes to the paranormal. After that day I knew that there were things in this world that go beyond the realm of explanation. I have never had another experience like I did that day.

2.  If you had to pick one sense and lose all others, what would it be?

I suppose I would pick hearing as music has always been an extremely important part of my life. Also, I need to be able to communicate with people and I know would be WAY too lazy to learn ASL or how to read lips.

3. What is your favorite attribute in a person?

Understanding. The world is a big place and people are bound to disagree on many points. I think it is important to listen to all sides and understand where they are coming from. Different views makes the world a much more interesting and rich place.

4.  Describe your happiest accident.

In about the spring of 1998 I stumbled into a MSN chat room on a whim. There I met a young man my age and we began chatting and talking on the phone. We would lose touch every couple of years and then pick up again where we left off. In 2008 we finally met in person after almost 11 years of long distance romance and have barely left each other’s side ever-since.

5. If you had to choose one personal object to leave behind when you are gone, what would it be?

I am stumped on this one. I don’t have any personal items that I feel deeply connected to. I guess I would choose a necklace that was my grandmothers because it reminds me of her.



Zelda Knapp

1.  Have you ever had a transcendent experience?  If so, what happened?


I've had some pretty intense experiences in the audience at a play, but am not sure that counts as transcendent. However, if it does, I remember one night in particular - it was the first performance of the John Doyle-directed revival of Company after the Tony Awards. The show had won for Best Revival, but Raul Esparza (who had been the favorite to win) had not won for Best Actor, and the producers had announced the show was closing in two weeks. On an impulse, after work I went to the box office to see if I could snag a student rush ticket to the show - I met several others there who had done the same thing, also on an impulse. Before the doors opened to let us in to the theatre, I could hear applause within. That night in the theatre, there was a feeling of cameraderie and support in the audience - we had most of us come to say "We are here for you. We wish you would stay longer," and to Raul especially, "We think you should have won." Near the end of the show, when he finished singing "Being Alive," the audience response was immediate and intense - we were roaring into applause, and it did not taper and it did not stop - for a full minute we clapped like that, and then - as one - we all stood up. This was my first time being part of a standing ovation that occurred during the show, and I think it was the first time for the cast as well - Raul Esparza was visibly taken aback, and then he started sobbing. Never before, and never since, have I felt as in tune, as connected, with an entire room full of strangers.

2.  If you had to pick one sense and lose all others, what would it be?

This one kills me, as the loss of any breaks my heart. But I think perhaps sight - I'm a very visual person, I save pictures in my memory of past events, of art, of people - and I'd hate to lose that faculty.

3.  What is your favorite attribute in a person?

Integrity. I think it encompasses a lot of other attributes as well - like honesty, self-awareness, intelligence, loyalty, consistency - Integrity - someone who is fully him/herself, without contradiction or apology.

4.  Describe your happiest accident.

Not exactly an accident, but - on a school assignment, several people from my class were at DIA, exploring the roof exhibit - Judy, one of my classmates, and I discovered that the cyllindrical glass enclosure on the wooden deck had a hidden door that rotated open. We both crept in and lay on the deck in the sun, like cats on a summer day. We stayed there for maybe two hours, just talking, and eventually ended up going back to my dorm and watching Talented Mr. Ripley together and getting food. She's now one of my best and most important friends.

5.  If you had to choose one personal object to leave behind when you are gone, what would it be?

I don't want to leave! I would like to leave something good behind me - something I made, something that's worth something, something someone will care about. A book maybe. But you wanted a personal object. Perhaps one of my notebooks - I had these hard-bound notebooks that I would collect lyrics, poems, quotations, funny things people said, and postcards and pictures - I made twelve of them through high school and college, and still carry some of them with me in New York.

Stephen Gracia

1. Have you ever had a transcendent experience? If so, what happened?


I’ve had a few; sitting in the audience, listening to some one speak words I wrote for the first time (I may have taken leave of my physical form), and the night there was a Mayan temple in my shower (a story for another time) leap to mind, but I would say my first transcendent moment was my first time seeing live music on my own. It was Suicidal Tendencies at L’Amours, (an old Brooklyn Rock club), I was 16 and right up against the stage, surrounded by what seemed like every Brooklyn Punk and Metalhead-- all older, bigger, and drunker than me. The lights dimmed, feedback filled the room, and Mike Muir said: “First off-let's take it from the start; Straight out, can't change what's in my heart; No one-can tear my beliefs apart….”

I knew right then that my life would be filled with small, filthy clubs and Hardcore Punk.




2. If you had to pick one sense and lose all others, what would it be?


I’ve thought about this a lot, since I have a family history of blindness, and the fact that I may lose a sense is a very real concern.

I would say that the one sense I couldn’t do without is hearing. The thought of never experiencing music is terrifying.

I could make due as a sightless writer. Milton did it. And he didn’t have a Mac with voice recognition software. He probably just had an urchin with a quill pen.




3. What is your favorite attribute in a person?


A sense of humor. Hanging around me can get a bit tiresome, as I am constantly making up stories, songs, and noises, not to mention grabbing props, doing shtick, and commenting on Every. Single. Thing that goes on around me. If you don’t find at least some of that funny, our friendship just isn’t going to last. I love people who can make me laugh, who are natural storytellers, and who can mercilessly attack my own personal foibles. 




4. Describe your happiest accident.


I sometimes think that everything I’ve ever written is a “happy accident” as I’ve never sat down to write with anything approaching an outline. I put two people in a room and let them talk and eventually, something psychotic happens. Often, it takes me completely by surprise.




5. If you had to choose one personal object to leave behind when you are gone, what would it be? 


The photo of a 14 year old me hanging out backstage with Poison’s Brett Michaels. It’s goofy as hell and not at all Punk Rock, and it’s impossible to look at it without laughing hysterically.