In a Beverly Hills park Wednesday morning, I chat with phenomenologist Julie Simone. Video
Julie spent 1980-1984 in Germany (from kindergarten to fourth grade) before coming home to Washington D.C. "grudgingly."
"I don’t really like this country. If I had my way, I would go back to Europe. It’s a much simpler way of life. I didn’t know about such things as racism until I moved here. I lived in a farming village. I went to the butcher, the baker, and you could walk there."
Luke: "What do you love and hate about America?"
Julie: "I hate the hypocrisy."
"It’s supposed to be so democratic, which I don’t buy. The Religious Right is trying to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do, meanwhile they have mistresses and dominatrixes…. People should be allowed to make their own decisions. Overseas, they teach people to think for themselves while here they teach people to follow like sheep. Thinking for yourself is strongly discouraged here."
"The educational system here. There are different standards depending on where you live. Why is it ok for people in the South and Mid-West to be stupid? It seems like the system is intentionally keeping certain segments of the population down."
Julie loves the "freedom" in Europe. "It’s just so beautiful there."
"I lived there as a child. I’ve been there as an adult but I haven’t lived there. Other than Checkpoint Charlie which I visited when it was still up, it just seemed more relaxed. Here people live to work and there people work to live."
[Afterwards, Julie praises by email "the lack of homeless in Europe, centralized health care, and lower crime rates (depending on where you are, of course)."]
Luke: "Why do you choose to live here?"
Julie: "I live here for work. Unless I find some European to marry, I’m stuck here."
"I was raised atheist but I wanted to convert to Catholicism."
Simone has lived in Los Angeles since 2003. "The people here are passive-aggressive. I’m from the East Coast where people say what they think."
"I love the East Coast. There are actual cities there. I love when you walk out on the street and people are in suits and ties. They care about their appearance. People here go to work in jeans and t-shirts. How is that acceptable?"
Julie’s parents didn’t "impose anything upon me… So long as I was happy."
"I’ve gone sober a few times. Two years ago, I went two months minus a one day break."
Currently Julie has been sober for a few months. "I’m trying to make it a lifestyle change."
"It’s been a problem for most of my adult life."
"I was in denial for a long time. It’s not just alcohol."
"I can’t seem to just have a couple of drinks like normal people do."
As Julie gets drunker, she gets more happy and wild. "It helps me be the person I am inside."
"Coke is the only drug I’ve had a problem with. It’s so socially acceptable."
"I was doing speed to maintain my weight."
"From living in LA, I started doing coke again. Everywhere you go, it’s here. As a female, everybody wants to give it to me. Coke is what started me going back to AA. …Unfortunately, alcohol leads to it."
Luke: "Do you become more sexually available when you’re high or drunk?"
Julie: "Sure. Most people do."
"I haven’t worked the [twelve] steps. I’ve just been going to meetings, trying to find a sponsor."
Luke: "How has your life changed by being sober?"
Julie: "It’s just very strange."
"Pretty much everyone I know drinks but they don’t do it very often."
"I choose not to hang out at drug parties anymore because they’re boring."
