The Darker Side of Lust: The Lost Interview

In August 2010, I was contacted by XI Magazine for an interview and book review for their Se-XI section. A few months after the piece went live, XI Magazine had server issues and lost tons of data, the interview and review included. Although the full piece is somewhere out there in cyberspace, I do have the interview portion.


In an email blast I sent to my mailing list, I included this quote from Managing Editor, Okema T. Moore:

Exploring various taboos like mulitiple partners, homosexuality and religion with regard to sex…the book has something for everyone! It’s well written, intriguing and a page turner. It explores lust and passion and even a little love, all while drawing you in deeper and deeper with the vivid language and very detailed descriptions of characters, positions and possibilities. I felt like a voyeur as I read it, because I could clearly see each scenario play out in my mind’s eye.

It takes a talented writer and an expansive amount of liberation and imagination to come up with something that is more sexy and passionate than raunchy and overtly extra. Abigail Ekue is all of that and more in my opinion.

And now, the interview where I discuss my loves, my lusts and my writing (September 2010):

Room With A View

This is the view from one of my windows. I took this photo for this blog after reading "On Exhibition" in The Summer Double Issue of New York magazine (print edition).


Sometimes I'm an intentional voyeur, other times I stumble upon quite a view. I've seen my neighbor on the toilet; opaque or frosted windows only work if you close them. I looked down upon full frontal male hipster nudity; why he stood facing his bedroom window to dry himself off is beyond me, but judging from what I saw, he's got nothing to be ashamed of. I've witnessed fellow nude and semi-nude chefs in the kitchen. I've caught the eye of residents banished to the windows to smoke. One neighbor slept in, their bed right under their open window. I found myself back at my window periodically, checking if they were alive. If I were a basketball fan, I could've watched the entire NBA playoffs on another neighbor's flat screen TV.

Touch Me At Your Own Risk

I heard this morning on the radio about incidents of subway groping going way up, especially in Manhattan and how they expect with the Holiday rush, it's only going to get worse. I did notice the campaign about sexual harassment on the subways and had to shake my head at the fact that not only is the problem getting that bad, but that they have to tell the victims that it's not OK. This is ridiculous. What is wrong with these men? I have made reference to the jostling of bodies and lingering touches on the train in a consensual matter or in fiction. But this happens more often than women are willing to admit and that is the problem. I'm well-aware that during rush hour, there is very little personal space and having grown up in NY, I'm very tolerant of it, but that's no excuse for your hand being in my ass crack.

I caught a lot of heat on the NY Times City Room Blog last year when I said something to the effect that these crazy, sick men prey on women they think or know will be too scared to say anything or too lost in their own worlds to notice. You know how many times I've just stared at someone just to see what will happen and they never see me because they never look up? They have no clue what's going on around them. They make themselves targets. There's no eye contact. So even if someone did "attack" them (rob, grope etc.) they wouldn't be able to identify them! I remember a few years ago sitting across from a woman and man who didn't know one another. The man would slowly inch his hand under his newspaper and rest his fingers on the woman's thigh. I was shocked that she didn't even feel it.