RAX KING is the James Beard Award-nominated author of Tacky (Vintage, 2021) and host of the podcast Low Culture Boil. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her toothless Pekingese.
My current favorite thing to read is: an original copy of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask). They’re not that easy to find—the original was released in 1969 and contains a shitload of badly outdated sex advice, like “douche with Coca-Cola after sex to avoid pregnancy.” Later editions eliminated all the wrong stuff, but that’s the best stuff! I read from it on my podcast Low Culture Boil a lot.
My current favorite thing to watch is: What We Do In The Shadows, which my friend Josh recommended to me. One of the funniest shows I’ve ever, ever seen. Also, it’s October, so scary horror movies and horror B-movies, in that order.
My current favorite thing to listen to is: …I haven’t stayed on top of music at all for, like, a decade. For the first half of that decade I was too busy being on drugs and then in the latter half I’ve had to catch up on all the stuff I avoided doing while I was on drugs. I guess I always do listen to Bruce Springsteen a lot.
My current state of mind is: bad, haha. But I guess fine relative to how bad it’s been for a year and a half now.
My current chemical romance involves: …I’m boring now—I mostly stick to weed (although Lord knows I smoke a lot of it). Once in a while my boyfriend and I will take acid or molly together.
My current words of wisdom are: “Do the next right thing.” My dad used to say that to me all the time when I was in trouble. Turns out it’s an old NA bromide, but it works.
My current mode of transportation involves: my feet or the bus, depending on where I need to go. I rarely go farther than foot- or bus-length trips.
My current favorite fast food item is: the Popeyes spicy chicken sandwich. I downloaded the Popeyes app because I kept ordering so many chicken sandwiches that I figured I might as well collect some form of “rewards” for it—but of course the rewards are basically all, like, more chicken sandwiches, so now it’s a self-perpetuating cycle.
My current workout routine consists of: …haha, not applicable. Sex, I guess?
My current regrettable decision involves: …I haven’t made any of those in a while! I’ve been on my best behavior for years.
My current hopes and dreams are: …my mom has this coffee mug that says “I know it sounds strange, but all I want is a normal life.” A very weird thing to print on a coffee mug, but that’s pretty much where I’m at right now, dreams-wise.
My current hobbies/projects include: …I’ve been really into crocheting for a while now. I made this great blanket, but the problem is it’s lopsided, because I don’t grip my yarn correctly. So now my mission is to make a blanket that doesn’t look super fucked up.
Rax King is online at raxkingisdead.com.
Brian Alan Ellis runs House of Vlad Press, and is the author of several books, including Sad Laughter (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2018). His writing has appeared at Juked, Hobart, Fanzine, Monkeybicycle, Electric Literature, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Funhouse, Heavy Feather Review, and Yes Poetry, among other places. He lives in Florida.
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