TueNight 10: Kera Bolonik
Kera with David Lee Roth when he stopped by the offices of DAME.
Age: 49
Quick bio: Kera is a writer and the editor-in-chief of DAME Magazine. She is at work on a book entitled GULLIBLE, which will be out from HarperCollins/Dey Street Books sometime in 2021.
Beyond the Bio: “They say that as you grow older you care less about what people think, and it’s really true. I was so self-conscious and anxious, literally lost sleep scrutinizing conversations I’d had at work or parties, worrying I’d offended someone or sounded stupid. Now, I can barely remember conversations I had five minutes earlier; unless someone says something deliberately egregious, I usually let it pass. If we have to live amid such dark times, I feel better equipped to handle it now more than at any other point in my life. I’m finally at a point where I like where I’m at. But it feels fleeting, too, because my greatest anxieties now have everything to do with my parents’ aging and my son learning how to navigate the brutality of the world without feeling overwhelmed by it.”
What makes you a grown-ass lady? There’s a part of me that feels I only dabble in adulting, but nothing makes me grown-ass quite like a crisis. Or when my son is scared, and I need to pull it together to defuse his anxiety. That little face…
1. On the nightstand: Conflict Is Not Abuse, by Sarah Schulman
2. Can’t stop/won’t stop: Shopping for LPs. I can’t pass up a deep perusal of a stack of records — for my birthday, I asked my wife and son for a gift certificate to a record store and two hours of quiet, interrupted stack-perusing time. That’s it. That’s what I wanted.
3. Jam of the minute: “All Night Long” by Mary Jane Girls. My 8-year-old son and I are deep in the ’80s right now.
4. Thing I miss: My metabolism. My ability to stay up late without physical repercussions. Though friends aren’t things, I miss so many of them lost too soon, and I miss them most of all.
5. ’80s crush: I was so terrified of my sexuality in the 1980s, I didn’t allow myself to articulate my crushes, so I can’t answer this completely faithfully; it would have to be a retrospective approximation. If I had to guess, besides saying half my friends at the time, I’d also add Chrissie Hynde (who simultaneously terrified me), Wendy & Lisa of the Revolution, and Suzanne Vega for starters.
6. Current crush: Besides my wife? No one. But I am held in awe by a lot of young women who are as brilliant and brave as they are easy on the eyes, and I find that incredibly sexy. Those who immediately come to mind: Janelle Monae, Lizzo, Kate McKinnon, Indya Moore.
7. Latest fave find: We Are Wild probiotic skincare. I rarely if ever find a skincare product worth talking about, but this line of cleansers and moisturizer has helped my skin a lot, and they’re solid roll-ons, so easy to carry around in your bag.
8. Last thing you lost: My hearing. Or losing it, anyway.
9. Best thing that happened recently: I signed my book contract.
10. Looking forward to: In the long run? The end of this hellscape administration. Hope to god it means we get a sane and humane president and Senate and House. I hope that’s not too tall an order, but that’s what I look forward to.
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