An Interview with Karen Michalson
by Joan Kennedy Taylor

	Karen Michalson has been an ALF member for several
years, and contributed two articles to this newsletter
in 1989-1990 about her experiences as the ALF
representative to a Coalition for Choice in Worcester,
Mass.  She has a doctorate in English from the
University of Massachusetts in Amherst and is the
author of Victorian Fantasy Literature: Literary
Battles with Church and Empire, published by the Edward
Mellen Press.  She also writes novels and is the bass
player and vocalist of a rock group called Point of
Ares, whose first album, "Enemy Glory," will be
released in July by Cuz Entertainment on its rock label
Gargoyle Records.  Point of Ares is based in Worcester,
Massachusetts, and has performed throughout
Massachusetts in person and on television.  She
recently agreed to be interviewed by ALF News.

ALF:  Is there anything else I should include?
KM:  Please include my e-mail address:
SKYLARK777@aol.com.  Besides an unpublished fantasy
trilogy, I have written a heavily libertarian suspense
novel (also unpublished) with strong elements of
magical realism and rock 'n roll, called The Maenad's
God.  I am currently working on another novel and
starting to write some musical ideas for another album. 
Although it is now in the very early stages, this album
might be of interest to libertarians because it will be
structured around individuals in conflict with stronger
sinister forces (like government agencies).  We might
include some songs about the Waco massacre and Randy
Weaver.  My short story, "Of No Importance," was
published in the January 1996 issue of Liberty.  I
recently released a spoken word album on Dark Records,
of myself reading this story.  The album is also called "Of 
No Importance." 
ALF:  It's not clear whether you are also writing
songs?  If so, music, lyrics, or both? 
KM: Yes, I am a songwriter. I write all of the lyrics, and I 
co-write all of the music with my guitarist (who
also happens to be my husband).  I use my keyboard (as
well as my bass) for composing.  The songs we wrote
together for "Enemy Glory" are our musical
interpretation of my trilogy. 
ALF: And are your readings of your own work or do they
include the works of others? 
KM: My own work. 
ALF: I assume the title "Of No Importance" is a
reference to Wilde's A Woman of No Importance.
KM: Yes, it is.  Thank you for noticing.  I love it
when perceptive readers notice things like that.  And
of course, Salome, my main character, who is very much
a "woman of no importance" in the story, is a reference
to Wilde's play,  Salome. 
ALF: You are a libertarian, a feminist, a fiction
writer, and a musician.  Which of these aspects of
yourself came first, as a way of identifying yourself? 
KM: I really have to think about this one, because I'm
usually hesitant to identify myself as any of these
things, except libertarian.  "Feminist" is a label that
has been owned by socialist-oriented feminists for so
long that for most people it implies a political agenda
I'm not comfortable with, and that certainly does not
define me.  Several years ago I got sick of feeling I
had to re-define the word every time I used it, by
starting sentences with,  "I'm a feminist, but...." 
I'm a feminist but I also support the right to bear
arms.  I'm a feminist but I'm a first amendment
absolutist and believe pornography is protected speech,
etc.  All of which only resulted in people telling me I
wasn't "really" a feminist.
	I prefer to identify myself as a "libertarian"
because I find that people who know what the word means
understand correctly by it that I am against taxes, for
legalizing drugs, etc.  They might not agree with me,
but at least the meaning is clear.  A lot of people,
however, don't know what "libertarian" means, and that often 
gives me an opportunity to discuss libertarian
ideas.   But in either case I don't have to battle
anyone telling me I'm not "really" a libertarian. 
	By the way, "fiction writer" is a socially
dangerous thing to call yourself before you achieve
some recognizable success (and maybe even after).  I
used to identify myself as a novelist because I naively
thought that a novelist is one who writes novels. 
People got absolutely antsy over this.  Some would
frantically insist that I must be deceiving myself,
that my writing must be a hobby and that surely I have
a "real job" hidden in the closet.  Others would say
the same thing more politely.   Otherwise normal, civil
people would suddenly say anything to get me to deny I
was "really" writing novels.  And of course everyone
would suddenly have a prodigy child who was a budding
great writer, or try to get into some weird competition
thing by telling me about the book they were "going to
write someday" so of course they were "writers" too. 
Although now that I'm reading in public I sometimes
find myself  in situations where it's alright to tell
people I write, in general I've learned not to talk
about it. 
	As to "musician."  It's strange, but before Point
of Ares began to take off everybody was also eager to
remind me that I wasn't a "real musician" yet, either,
no matter how many clubs I'd played in or hours per day
I'd spent practicing and songwriting. Yet now that I
can call myself a "professional" in every sense: we're
under management, releasing an album, planning a tour,
working on getting regional airplay, etc. — all the
things people have told me I needed to do to be a "real
musician" — I find that people are still disbelieving
or dismissive and very quick to let me know that I
haven't reached the next level yet, so I don't feel
comfortable identifying myself as a musician, either. 
	There's something about seriously identifying
yourself as an artist that seems to encourage put downs.  
I never expected that this would be the case
until I made a serious commitment to the publishing and
entertainment industries and began to use those tags as
identifiers.  I certainly never experienced anything
like it when I was a college professor (except from my
own department, which is another story).  I've learned
that it's alright to be self-denigrating and pretend
one's art is merely a hobby, but God help any serious
artist that has the nerve to define herself as such
without benefit of public success.  Nobody believes
you, and as a consequence, most people react like they
think you need to be set straight concerning your true
calling in life.  I protect myself by not discussing
what I do. 
ALF: Is there one of them you feel to be more central
than the others? 
KM: Right now, no.  It depends on what I'm doing.  When
I'm playing bass, "musician" is more central.  When I'm
writing, "fiction writer" is more central.  When I
encounter outrageous situations, "libertarian" and/or 
"feminist" is more central. 
ALF: When and how did this first identification take
place?  Was it a gradual process, or a dramatically
quick one? 
KM: I read Ayn Rand.  That was a major conversion
experience for me, or if not a true conversion, she
articulated things I felt but never clearly defined for
myself.  I fell in love with Dagny and then decided it
was better and truer to be a heroine like Dagny than
merely worship one.  I should also mention Gene Burns,
who once ran for US President on the LP ticket.  He
used to have an afternoon radio talk show in Boston,
and I listened to his show a lot while commuting to
graduate school at the People's University of
Massachusetts.  It helped me make sense of a lot of the
Marxist silliness I encountered there.  Then I just
started reading everything I could find on liberty,
individualism, etc. 
ALF: What was most important about your childhood? 
KM: Reading.  Being by myself in my room on a dark
rainy day and reading books. 
ALF: At what age did you know you were a writer? 
KM: Sadly, I think I knew at age three or four, because
I remember having a special affinity for words even
then.  I taught myself to read by listening to adults
read stories and looking at the words on the page and
matching sounds to characters.  I wrote a lot of little
stories in elementary school, but as I grew older, I
buried a lot of my creativity.  So deeply that by the
time I got to graduate school I decided to earn a PhD
studying literary criticism, not creative writing.  It
was only after graduating that I began to write
fiction, and it was sad because I felt that was what I
should have been doing all along, and that at some
point I had been taught to kill off the best in myself. 
ALF: At what age did you become interested in music? 
KM: I was very young, and easily shamed, and my musical
inclinations were so thoroughly emotionally beaten out
of me that it wasn't until I started writing fiction
that something broke inside and I started studying
music.  Actually, my second novel, The Maenad's God, is
in part about a musician, and while I was creating and
writing this character I discovered a long suppressed
need to learn to play.  That fictional character
changed my life. Profoundly. 
ALF: Did you study formally? 
KM: No, I'm mostly self taught.  But I did take private
lessons once I reached a point where I felt I would
benefit from someone else's input.
ALF: Who are your favorite writers and musicians? 
KM: Writers — all of the Romantic poets, but especially
Coleridge and Shelley.  John Ruskin, Walter Pater, and
Oscar Wilde.  For the twentieth century — Thomas Mann,
Ayn Rand, John Barth, Edward Abbey, and Roberto
Calasso.  For musicians: any and all bass players!
(just kidding)  Actually I like Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, 
Jack Bruce, Geddy Lee, John Myung, and Duff
McKagan.  For keyboards, Tony Banks. 
ALF: Is this answer the same as the answer to the
question, what writers and musicians influenced you
most? 
KM: As to writers, in general, yes. For example, I've
been reading Shelley since I was 12 or 14, and even now
when I write there are certain cadences in his poems
that definitely influence my sentence structure, and he
taught me the trick of seeing images from behind the
image as in "darkness to a dying flame" — the flame is
dying but you can see it better in the dark, so there
is an illusion there that it has more life as it dies. 
	As to musicians, I don't know.  I'm more 
"influenced" by the fictional musician I created, and
the kinds of things I imagine he might play, than by
anybody real.  You have to remember I didn't study
music at a young age, so I don't think I was open to be
influenced when I did take up bass.  I was open to
learn and develop.  When I was first learning to play I
would study and memorize bass lines by all of my
favorite bass players, so there was certainly that kind
of influence, but I never consciously tried to take on
the style of another player. 
ALF: Do you have an articulated philosophy of art? 
KM: No, and I've yet to find a philosophy of art from
Aristotle to Gadamer that convinces me or that I find
useful in either creating or experiencing someone
else's art.  But I do have a personal epistemology of
art.  I know art happens when I feel like I'm in a
sacred space, like the reality around me has lengthened
out and changed, when I'm not "here" anymore, when I
experience the Romantic dictum of thinking with my
feelings and feeling with my thoughts.  This can happen
whether I'm artist or audience, but whenever I have
this feeling I know I'm in the presence of art. 
ALF: What are the connections between your art and the
libertarianism and feminism in your life? 
KM: A lot of my characters are individuals in deep
conflict with an oppressive state.  I don't know about
feminism.  Mostly I write in first person, from a male
character's point of view.  One (socialist) feminist
chastised me for doing this and accused me of  "writing
into my own oppression."  Actually, I don't think my
fiction is particularly feminist, not consciously so,
anyway. As to music, even though there are now more
women in visible positions in rock 'n roll, there are
still situations when I play out and people come to the
club thinking that a female bass player is a novelty
and wondering if I can really play.  Although they are
actually surprised when they discover that I can, it is
almost always a pleasant surprise, not hostility.  Or
people assume that because I'm female I must be the
vocalist (which I am) and think I'm carrying a guitar
for someone else.  To the extent that I'm crossing what
remains of a gender line there, I suppose playing rock
bass could be seen as a feminist act.  But I don't
intend it that way — I didn't become a bass player to
make a feminist statement.  I just wanted to play rock
'n roll and I happen to be female. 
ALF: How has libertarian feminism shaped your actions
and expectations?  How do you think it should and will
influence society? 
KM: It's given my actions and expectations a neat catch
phrase, which is important, a way to think about my own
politics.  I think it has influenced society under the
rubric of libertarianism.  People are more conscious of
government oppression since Waco, and this
consciousness I think pervades all of society,
including how women think of themselves and their
relation to the state.  Although I also think its
influence in that respect is an anonymous one. 
ALF: What experiences have been most formative for you? 
KM: Being alone.   Being alone with a good book.
(Although I don't know if one is ever alone with a good
book). 
ALF: What do you expect out of life? 
KM: Opposition. I didn't always expect this, it's
something I've come to expect in the last two or three
years.  I used to believe that if I worked hard at
anything I'd succeed — now I know that in the fiction
publishing industry that's largely a myth.  People who
succeed work hard, of course, but not everyone who
works hard succeeds.
	For example, I work like hell at my art, and other
publishing professionals have compared the quality of
my writing to some Nobel Prize nominees (in rejection
letters I've received) yet my fiction is still
essentially unpublished.  Why?  Well agents have told
me my work is "too innovative," "too imaginative," "too
challenging and sophisticated," or "too intelligent,"
and that readers won't accept a fantasy trilogy that's 
"written like good literature" or won't accept any kind
of trilogy from an unknown author because first-time
novelists aren't "supposed" to be able to pull off what
I did.  In the meantime, I've read my work to real live
audiences and people weep and ask when they can buy
copies.  My last agent sat on my work for 16 months and
showed it to no one because, essentially, she had no
idea how to deal with a well-written novel intended for
intelligent readers — her contacts wanted formula.
Exclusively. 
	It is heartbreaking to have to explain that to
people who assume that my novels are unpublished
because I'm not any good or not "trying hard enough." 
It's one reason I started reading in public. 
	I am at the point where I send work out hoping that
the person on the other end won't notice that I write
too well or write too intelligently.  So I really think
a lot of my hard work at novel writing has been a
liability towards success.  This is based on what some
of my rejection letters say in so many words, and on
what my last agent said to me when we parted ways.  I'm
still trying to sort a lot of that out.
	And yet good writers do get published.  But it's a
knave's game for a relative unknown like me to even get
read by anybody in the industry.  Most of the time my
work gets returned unread and unopened.  My trilogy
languished for 2½ years at one publishing house whose
acquisitions editor called it a "classic" and "loved it" but 
couldn't get the senior editor to read it (and
he was married to the senior editor, by the way). And
in exchange for the slender hope of getting read I had
to promise exclusivity, so I couldn't show it elsewhere
in that time.  Publishing is rife with horror stories
like that.  I have to say that in many ways, despite
its reputation for sleaziness, the music industry is a
lot cleaner.  
	On a strictly business level, I'd rather deal with
a record label executive than a publishing industry
executive, any day of the week.  It's unheard of for a
record label to extort exclusivity and sit on a demo
for 2½ years without playing the tape. 
ALF: What would you like to accomplish, in the short
range and in the long range? 
KM: I'd like to see my novels in print and in the hands
of readers who will appreciate them — in the short
range and in the long range. 


UPDATE


On Saturday, February 17, there was a meeting of ALF
members in the New York City area at the home of Joan
Kennedy Taylor in New York to discuss future plans. 
Under consideration now is an ALF outreach to college
campuses, an updating of our statement of principles
and literature list, additions to our literature list,
and more information in the newsletter: about our
members, about things people can do to promote
libertarian feminism in their own communities, and 
personal statements of what people are doing.

	One result of this meeting is that ALF now has a
web site on the Internet.  This site is still under
construction, but now people can see the latest
newsletter, learn how to join, and send us e-mail.  The
address is:
    

http://www.alf.org


	On April 17, Joan Kennedy Taylor attended an ALF
meeting in Boston.  She will be in Oakland and San
Francisco, May 10 to May 20, for the following events:
	On Sunday, May 12 at 2:00 p.m., Sharon Presley will
give a talk on the individualist anarchist, Voltairine
de Cleyre, at the offices of Resources for Independent
Thought (RIT), 5236 Claremont, Oakland. (This has been
postponed from an earlier date.)  $10.00.
	On Monday, May 13, there will be an ALF meeting at
7:30 p.m. at the same address: 5236 Claremont, Oakland. 
No charge.
	On Tuesday, May 14, Joan Kennedy Taylor will be
speaking about the late libertarian writer and editor,
Roy Childs, and Liberty Against Power, the book by him
which she compiled posthumously.  That will be from 6-8
p.m. at the offices of Laissez Faire Books, 938 Howard
Street # 202, San Francisco. $5.00 includes wine and
cheese.
	Finally, on Saturday, May 18, at 2:00 p.m., Joan
Kennedy Taylor will be sponsored by Resources for
Independent Thought in a talk on the topic: "What You
Can Do About Sexual Harassment When You Don't Want to
Call the Cops." At the RIT offices, 5236 Clarement,
Oakland.  $10.00.  For more information about any of these 
meetings, contact Sharon Presley at the office of
Resources for Independent Thought (RIT), (510)
601-9450.

	ALF member Dr. Lois Copeland warns us that the
touted health care reform bill (H.R. 3160) contains
fraud and abuse provisions that subject doctors to
ten-year prison terms, $10,000 fines, and forfeiture of
property for offenses like "failure to comply with
statutory obligations."  Even patients run the risk of
a 5-year prison term for making a false statement to a
health care plan.  She suggests we all tell our
Senators and Representatives to read the bill and make
sure such provisions don't survive the House-Senate
conference.

	We wish to alert our readers to the fact that the
position on reproductive freedom taken in his book by
Harry Browne, candidate for the LP nomination for
President of the United States,  is not compatible with
the ALF official resolution on the issue that was
adopted in 1977-78.  Look for the full text of the
letter written to the candidate by ALF's national
coordinator, in the next issue of ALF News.