Gothamist interview with Kate Bornstein, Author, Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks & Other Outlaws

I interviewed the pioneering, amazing Kate Bornstein at Gothamist about her new book, Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks & Other Outlaws (Yes, I got a little carried away with the intro, it's hard to condense such a powerful book and I suck at condensing.)

Kate Bornstein wants you to stay alive—whether you’re a “freak,” a teen, an outlaw, or President Bush (if only to give him a piece of her mind). The 58-year-old transgendered writer, who's best known for her works on gender theory such as Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us and My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely, was spurred into action by the events of 9/11. Having encountered many teens on the verge of suicide, she wanted to find a way to reach out to them without being condescending, cruel, or clueless. The result is Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks & Other Outlaws, a book that’s part fired-up anti-status quo manifesto, part warm, cozy self-help book, urging readers to do everything from take drugs to bake cakes to moisturize, citing the works of such diverse people as George Lakoff, Judy Garland, Douglas Rushkoff, and Betty Dodson. With an introduction by Sara Quinn of Tegan and Sara, and a bold setup indicting President Bush as "the archetypical American bully asking bully questions that aren't really questions at all," Bornstein goes on to offer alternatives ranging from the immediacy of "Make a wish" to the provocative "Shatter some family values" to the more complex "Deal with the dead and gone."

The alternatives Bornstein's crafted are far from what you'd expect to find in your high school counselor's office. Several that are sure to raise ire and eyebrows include "Get laid. Please," "Eroticize the pain," "Go completely batty," and "Make it bleed." To understand the context of these suggestions, Bornstein offers a scale of safety (from one to four skulls), and effectiveness (from one to four umbrellas), along with keywords such as "if you must," "mind game" "thrill ride" and "clean slate." To read only the seven pages of alternatives is to receive a whiplash-inducing jolt to the system—where else will you find advice that includes "Experiment on animals and small children" and "Tell a lie" and "Give up nouns for a day?" When Bornstein elaborates on these suggestions, her brilliance in dissecting the drama of daily life shines through. In a scant two pages dedicated to "act[ing] your gender or any other," she manages to break down the sexual binary system into its simplest form, offering up the fulfillment of our sexual fantasies as a reason to stay alive. This is a book to be read, and read again, for maximum impact.

The end result takes readers on a tour of the mind’s darkest places by revealing Bornstein’s battles with anorexia, depression, murderous thoughts, flirting with death, and cutting. Don't worry, there's fun here too: making believe, making art, geeking out and going stealth. Ultimately, Bornstein is offering up an entirely new world-view for the living. From finding a new way to say hello to finding the love of your life, this is a hopeful, compassionate, kind, yet ass-kicking book, as befitting Bornstein's roots in 1960's radicalism. The title’s only misleading in so much that anyone who cares about their own future could learn from these all-over-the-map alternatives.

Speaking to Bornstein by phone, the one word that comes through to describe her is “feisty.” Whether protesting over being misquoted, defending phone sex, or arguing that whatever one has to do to stay alive, as long as you’re not being mean (Hello, Cruel World’s one ironclad rule) is a-okay, Bornstein brings a sense of humor, heart, and radical vision to the everyday business of survival. When I run into the tall, eloquent, and surprisingly gentle and soft-spoken playwright and author the next day, she jubilantly hands me a Get Out of Hell free card (you can get yours here). It's clear, though, that Bornstein cares much more about the quality of our lives in the here and now, and keeping every last freak alive for as long as possible, then any fiery underground we may face.

Read the whole interview here